89 International Review of Qualitative Research, Volume 2, Number 1, May 2009, pp. 89–116. © 2009 International Institute for Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign All rights reserved. Beyond Single Identity & Pathology Revealing Coherent Multiple Selves and Transformative Activism in the Narratives of Two Transgender Women Jason VanOra and Suzanne C. Ouellette Abstract Tis paper uses a conceptual framework based in critical person- ality psychology and a narrative strategy of inquiry to understand how two transgender women, whose lives and identities are depicted by sociological and clinical literatures as unidimensional and pathological, construct a set of multiple, coherent, and transformative selves. Trough their unique approach- es to questions posed in McAdams’ (1995b) Life Story Interview, these women depict multiple selves, a multiplicity not identifed in previous research that focused on a single transgender identity. Tese women’s selves include female selves, activist selves, gay-community based selves, and selves related to race, class, and culture. Tese women demonstrate authentic commitments to so- cial justice and social transformation through their attempts and capacities to establish coherence among these and other multiple selves within contexts related to activism and personal relationships. Finally, these women’s lives challenge traditional race/class distinctions as they pertain to privilege. While race and class strongly contextualize both narratives, culture is theorized as a more useful construct in explaining diferences between these two women with regard to the social struggles and isolation they face. Transgender women are women who do not identify with the gender they were as- signed at birth. Te stigma and discrimination they face are often exacerbated by racism, classism, and homophobia (Garofalo, Deleon, Osmer, Doll, & Harper, 2005; Namaste, 2000). Te fulfllment of basic human needs like having a place to live and feeling safe is often denied them. Given laws in most states, because they have transi- tioned between gender categories, they may not be allowed to engage common adult life-course tasks such as establishing a career, forming lasting and socially-recognized bonds with romantic partners, and building a family. Enabling these difculties are antagonistic, pervasive, and powerful social structures that enforce a binary of gender (gender that is either male or female, not both, with no third option), and make nor- mative the notion that the gender label given at birth is the one that must be enacted throughout life (Butler, 2001; Fausto-Sterling, 2000; Finn & Dell, 1999; Kessler, 1998).