Ellie Krug speaks around the country with her presentation called “Gray Area Thinking,” basing her talk on the premise that “98% of humans have good, empathetic hearts.” She speaks all over, in states and towns of various political leanings.

The Minneapolis Star/Tribune recently featured her remarkable and beautiful story in a front page article. She shares her story about how she decided to come out as a trans person; how she transitioned at age 52 and changed her life; and how it is her mission to spread empathy for trans people to those who may not have much experience with or understanding of LGBTQ+ people. In fact, that’s how she got elected to the school board of a small, conservative county on the far edge of the suburbs of Minneapolis. She knocked on over 1,000 doors so that people could get to know her as a complete person. As the newspaper reports: “One man kicked her off his property, but nearly everyone else was kind, and hardly anyone wanted to talk culture-war issues. Krug didn’t hide her gender identity — it was in the final paragraph of her campaign literature — but she wanted a broader message. ‘I don’t go around saying everything is trans-related,” she said. ‘But it’s important for people to know someone like me was elected, that it wasn’t a close call, and that I’m showing up trying to be a unifier and not a divider.'”

Here is an interesting moment from the training she does: She puts up signs around the room about identity (race, gender, religion, etc.), and asks participants various questions relating to identity, instructing them to stand under the sign that most represents them. Her final question is, What’s the identity you want to be known for? She relates that the response is the same every time, as it was at her most recent training: “Nobody stood under gender. Nobody stood under skin color. Nobody stood under political affiliation or LGBTQ status. All but one stood under the same sign: COMPASSION.”

Ellie Krug’s desire to give her presentation, to share her truth, with all kinds of people, all over, is deeply-felt. As the Star Tribune sums it up: “Because familiarity, she believes, doesn’t breed contempt at all. She doesn’t care if it sounds hopelessly idealistic or impossibly naïve. It’s what she believes at her core: Familiarity only breeds compassion.”