Finding Brotherhood in a Trans Motorcycle Club

A group of mostly bearded and tattooed motorcycle riders rolls through downtown Kansas City, turning heads with the braap-braap noise of their exhaust pipes. It’s the sound of ultimate freedom on the road, and it ripples deep in the chests of onlookers. Emblazoned on the back of the riders’ leather vests is their club name, Original Gents, and a logo of a skull with a pipe and top hat. The bottom rocker patch, which traditionally notes a club’s location, simply says ‘Brotherhood.’ It’s a word with added significance for the Original Gents, the first and only motorcycle club, or MC, by and for transmasculine people.

The Original Gents MC (OGMC for short) was founded in November 2020, by presidents Dakota Cole and Jami Ryan, and their name alludes to a common experience among its eight members: They were originally men or masculine of center from the beginning, regardless of how society viewed them. The club hosts a regular schedule of rides (including some that welcome non-members), supports LGBTQ+ events, and leads an annual Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR) ride, one of Kansas City’s few TDOR events. “That ride was something we all agreed on that we wanted to do every year,” Cole said. ”No matter how many people turned out, no matter how many people came. That was something for our community.”

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DAKOTA, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE OGMC

This year’s TDOR ride started and ended at LGBTQ+-owned Big Rip Brewing Company, with a group of over 50 allies and supporters riding along on motorcycles or in cars. While it’s not readily obvious that OGMC is a transmasculine club, its TDOR ride is one example of being intentionally visible for those who can’t be: Cole rode with a trans Pride flag mounted next to the OGMC flag on the back of his 1998 Honda Shadow 750 ACE. At the closing ceremony, the club read aloud the names of trans people murdered this year, followed by a moment of silence. Later, they hung out with supporters, drinking and chatting until late.

JAMI, ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE OGMC

Cole had always wanted to be part of a motorcycle club, but he wasn’t OK with the toxic masculinity biker culture is known for, and he didn’t like feeling that joining an MC meant he had to be stealth—not out about his trans experience. In 2020, he floated the idea of an all-transmasc MC on some local trans groups on Facebook, and his friend Ryan, who works at a local hospital, quickly got on board. Engineering technician Hunter Wills—now the OGMC Road Captain—and Ruben Castillo joined shortly after. Today, the club’s members come from different backgrounds and lived experiences, with an age range from 22 to early 50s. Some members are queer or nonbinary. Some are married, some are parents, and they all hold a wide variety of jobs.