Who is Hope in the memoir, All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto?

Hope is the name of a cousin in the author's family. Hope, who was originally given the name Jermaine, transitioned from male to female in the time that the author knew her. She is portrayed as being friendly and open and compassionate, and as being something of an inspiration to the author as he struggled with his sexuality even though, as he says in the text, he was not as open as she inspired him to be. Hope died at a relatively young age as a result of circumstances that the narrative never explicitly identifies. The language used to describe her death and its circumstances do imply that it was connected somehow to HIV/AIDS.