Blog / 2025 / My Goal Is to Make You Sad (And Inspired)

As I began work on this sticker design for Garden State Equality, my motivation was pretty straightforward: make an image that’s recognizable as Babs Siperstein, the New Jersey activist who did so much for trans rights in this state.

But the more I learned about Siperstein—both the work she did and the person she was—the sadder I found myself. Siperstein died a few years ago, and that meant I wouldn’t be able to meet her. Suddenly, I had a new goal: imbue the portrait with Siperstein’s verve and good mischief so that you too might be sad that you can’t meet her.

The Babs Siperstein design is part of Garden State Equality’s 20^th Anniversary Commemorative Sticker Pack, along with these stickers by Mike Brown and Olivia Laura. Each of these designs honors the work that this organization has done over the last two decades to fight for lived and legal equality.

My sticker celebrates the 2018 Babs Siperstein Law, which allows trans and non-binary people born in New Jersey to modify their birth certificate without having to prove that they’ve had a gender-affirming surgery. Mike’s rainbow-shaped request honors the passage of the 2010 Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act. Olivia’s book full of flowers is a shoutout to the 2019 LGBTQ+ and Disabled-Inclusive Curriculum Law that requires schools to teach about people of gender and sexual minorities as well as people with disabilities.

Obviously, I don’t really want you to be sad. That said, I do want you to regret that you never got to meet Siperstein as a way of inspiring you to recognize how lucky you are to share breath on this planet with lots of other people. I’m talking about the likes of Mike and Olivia as well as Larissa and Aedy from Garden State Equality who made this sticker pack happen, and everyone else in your life who stands up for kindness, equity, and curiosity.

You can buy all three stickers from Garden State Equality at Pride events in the state this month or online. And if stickers are your thing, check out my monthly sticker club!