Editing Poppy Z. Brite (section)

== Personal life ==
Martin was born in Bowling Green, [[Warren County, Kentucky]], at Western University Hospital.<ref>Constance Brite</ref> He is a [[trans man]] and has written and talked extensively about [[transgender]] issues and his own [[gender dysphoria]].<ref name=rope>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.poppyzbrite.com/rope.html |first=Poppy Z. |last=Brite |chapter=Enough Rope |title=Crossing the Border: Tales of Erotic Ambiguity |editor-first=Lisa|editor-last=Tuttle |editor-link=Lisa Tuttle |publisher=[[Independent Publishers Group|Trafalgar Square]] |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-575-40117-4}}</ref> He is gay, and has said, "Ever since I was old enough to know what gay men were, I've considered myself a gay man that happens to have been born in a female body, and that's the perspective I'm coming from."<ref name=rope /> In 2003, Martin wrote that, while gender theorists like [[Kate Bornstein]] would call him a "nonoperative transsexual", Martin would not insist on a label, writing "I'm just me".<ref name="gender">See Martin's LiveJournal, especially the [http://www.livejournal.com/users/docbrite/2003/08/22/ August 22, 2003 entry]</ref> In 2010, he began hormone therapy, and in 2011 expressed that he would prefer to be referred to by male pronouns.<ref name=pronouns>{{cite tweet |user=docbrite |number=67452753802309634 |title=Remember I said I'd let people know when I became uncomfortable with female pronouns? I'm there. I'd prefer the standard male ones, please. |last=Martin |first=Billy |date=May 8, 2011 |access-date=2013-09-08}}</ref>

On January 6, 2009, Martin was arrested at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in New Orleans as part of a peaceful demonstration in which churches in the Uptown area of the city were occupied to protest their closings.<ref>{{cite news |
author= Bruce Nolan and Susan Finch |
title= New Orleans police remove parishioners occupying closed Uptown churches |
url=http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/01/new_orleans_police_swarm_uptow.html |
work=[[The Times-Picayune]] |
date=January 6, 2009 |
access-date=January 7, 2009 }}</ref> In August 2009, New Orleans's ''[[Gambit (newspaper)|Gambit]]'' publication published reader-poll results naming Martin in second place as an ever-popular "Best Local Author".<ref>Best of New Orleans, ''[[Gambit Weekly]]'', August 24, 2009.</ref>

Martin married his husband, photographer and artist Grey Anatoli Cross, in 2019. The couple first met in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Billy Martin |url=https://www.facebook.com/billy.martin.127648/posts/pfbid02XTsaCZYAzLaEij2buf4oFU9UhhU6TDLtRvgur8QMbVWothrqqvessNrknzsx3Jo1l |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708025210/https://www.facebook.com/billy.martin.127648/posts/pfbid02XTsaCZYAzLaEij2buf4oFU9UhhU6TDLtRvgur8QMbVWothrqqvessNrknzsx3Jo1l |archive-date=July 8, 2023 |access-date=2025-01-18 |website=www.facebook.com |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>