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Wednesday, 17 December 2008 10:25
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 2008 Trans Year in Review
By Jacob Anderson-Minshall
Between the collapse of the economy, California’s same sex marriage flip-flops and Obama’s election it took a pregnant man to capture mainstream press’ attention. But while media outlets around the globe carried that trans story, most of the year’s transgender highlights received short shrift. Here’s some of what they missed:
ART
Utilizing the antiquated process of stereo card photography, Georgette Freeman’s Up From the Depths: Triggered exhibit addressed a thoroughly modern topic—her gender transition. Paintings by Chris Carraher (aka JackaDandy) were displayed at California’s Hi-Desert Nature Museum in Yucca Valley, and with the work of other trans artists as part of San Francisco’s 2008 Fresh Meat in the Gallery. Cartoonist Madison “Mek” Potts joined forces other trans women artists to serialize the graphic novel, Between the Lines (betweenthelines.sosdg.org).
Last year, Haworth Press established itself as the publisher of trans related nonfiction. In 2008, the Press delivered health care references Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery and Guidelines For Transgender Care. Haworth also published Head Over Heeels: Wives Who Stay With Cross-Dressers and Transsexuals; before financial woes crippled the company. Recently acquired by Taylor & Francis, there’s no word yet what the future holds for Haworth’s transgender titles.
A handful of other publishers produced other notables, including academic titles like Susan Stryker’s Transgender History and Christopher Shelley’s Transpeople: Repudiation, Trauma, Healing that argues trans people present a serious challenge to traditional sex and gender norms. Two controversial memoirs, Thomas Beatie’s Labor of Love: The Story of One Man’s Extraordinary Pregnancy and Savannah Knoop’s Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy overshadowed less contentious, but equally important Intersex: (for lack of better word) by Thea Hillman and Two Truths and a Lie, Scott Turner Schofield’s memoir told in the form of three solo plays.
As usual a number of anthologies included trans voices this year; the most noteworthy included Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader featuring pieces from seven trans writers, and Trans People in Love, brimming with stories of trans romance from around the globe. Other notable releases include: 10,000 Dresses, a fabulous children’s book written by Marcus Ewert about a boy who dreams of wearing dresses; young adult fiction If You Believe in Mermaids…Don’t Tell by A.A. Philips, and Darwin Ward’s coming of age novel, Becoming Alec.
FILM
Trans actor Joshua Bastion Cole seemed to dominate the silver screen this year, starring in Joie Rey Cohen’s short film Gender; Jules Rosskam’s experimental documentary, Against a Trans Narrative; and Trannywood’s erotic films, Cubbyholes: Trans Men In Action, (nominated for a 2008 GAYVN Award for Best Alternative Release) and its follow-up Couch Surfers. Trans filmmaker Morty Diamond examined a trans-masculine relationship in his docu-porn Trans Entities: The Nasty Love of Papi' and Wil.
The award-winning documentary, Two Spirits examined the life and murder of Fred Martinez, a Navajo teen who identified as a nadleeh—someone who possesses a balance of masculine and feminine traits. Meanwhile, trans women were subjects of Girl Inside (about a trans woman’s bond with her grandmother); Catwalk ’08, (documenting the first high fashion modeling pageant for trans women); and film fest fav: She’s a Boy I Knew by trans filmmaker and media activist Gwen Haworth.
MEDIA COVERAGE
When not musing about Beatie’s genitalia, the mainstream media preyed on our young. Trans kids continued to be a delicacy for daytime talk shows hosts, but Atlantic Monthly and National Public Radio provided fair and compassionate coverage of gender variant youth and their issues.
And queer publications stepped things up this year, with Out magazine covering the trans community in a special issue, edited by critically acclaimed trans author T Cooper, who also became Out’s newest columnist. Positively Aware magazine examined HIV-infection in the trans community, revealing that up to 28% of all trans people may be infected. The LGBT syndicate, QueerCents launched “Our Money is as Good as Your Money,” a new column by Ashley Wilson about trans finances.
In other news, Los Angeles Times’ Mike Penner quietly returned to work under his masculine persona, 8 months after the veteran sportswriter came out as Christine Daniels.
MUSIC
Canada’s trans-fronted band, The Cliks, started 2008 off right; their Complicated video became LOGO’s first number one of the year. Then they won a NewNowNext Nexty Award; appeared on MTV's TRL and TLC’s LA Ink, returned to Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour, toured Germany and South Africa and reportedly recorded the follow-up to their Snakehouse debut.
Dreams came true for Coyote Grace—trans musician Joe Stevens and his partner Ingrid Elizabeth—when they were invited on stage with the Indigo Girls and on tour with Melissa Ferrick. Added bonus: their 2008 live album, The Harvey Tour. Trans pop star Joshua Klipp also reached some life goals in ’08 when his L1FE remix made it onto a Billboard music chart. Meanwhile Klipp’s Tell Me The… video—which made history by featuring a trans man and trans woman playing each other's love interests—reached LOGO’s top ten Click List.
Baby Dee’s fourth album, Safe Inside the Day, was lauded by Britain’s The Daily Telegraph as “the most remarkable record of the year so far;” all-trans-woman band Lipstick Conspiracy returned to Out/Loud Queer Women’s Music Festival, participated in Actor Slash Model’s ongoing film project about trans musicians, and headlined the transgender stage at San Francisco Pride.
Lesbian musician Melissa Li and trans spoken word artist Kit Yan teamed up as Good Asian Drivers and embarked on a 12-week cross country road tour, driving through over 30 states and 20 major cities.
Jazz bassist Jennifer Leitham’s Left Coast Story included a redo of the Indigo Girls’ “Ghost,” while gender-bending model/actress and singer Jeffree Star’s December EP Cupcakes Taste Like Violence is a bite of things to come.
PERFORMANCES
A plethora of trans playwrights premiered theater pieces this year, including Scott Turner Schofield’s sold out Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, Tobias K. Davis’ Standards of Care and PoMo Freakshow’s collaboration between FTM-to-femme Sassafrass Lowrey and hir trans partner Kestryl Cael, Traitors without (T)reason, which explores the betrayal, invisibility, subversion, and loss “inextricably” linked to passing.
While lesbian playwright Sally Oswald’s Pony featured a number of trans masculine characters, the trans performers in Collective of Geniuses played it straight in Denial of Self.
San Francisco’s Fresh Meat Festival relocated to Project Artaud Theater this year allowing artistic director Sean Dorsey to recruit ensemble performances like the country’s only all transgender choral group, Transcendence Gospel Choir.
In its second year, trans comedian Ian Harvie’s self-titled comedy cabaret featured a hefty LGBT line-up, including luminaries Leslie Jordan, Alec Mapa, Ant, Margaret Cho and Calpernia Addams.
POLITICS/LAW
A record number of transgender delegates, alternates and standing committee members helped usher Obama into the Democratic National Convention’s nomination. One of them, Marisa Richmond, became the party’s first openly transgender African-American delegate.
While trans politicians ran unsuccessful campaigns for president (Ben “Bennie Lee” Ferguson), US House of Representatives (Missouri’s Midge Potts) and Kansas state House of Representatives (Ferguson again); Stu Rasmussen won the mayor’s seat in the small town of Silverton, Oregon. Residents came out in droves to support Rasmussen when members of Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church protested his election.
In a potentially far-reaching decision, U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled that the Library of Congress violated Diane Schroer’s rights after they offered the 25-year Army veteran a senior position—and then rescinded it upon learning she was trans. Meanwhile the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund settled a lawsuit with Caliente Cab Restaurant, which tossed a masculine appearing African American woman out of their establishment when she attempted to use the women’s restroom.
Detroit and Kansas City, Missouri banned discrimination against trans people while New York State adopted the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), and nation's second largest Protestant church (United Methodists)—despite failing to repeal anti-gay church laws—decided against adopting anti-trans language.
In sadder news, this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance marked the tenth anniversary of Rita Hester’s still unsolved murder. The stabbing death of this Boston trans activist sparked the creation of the now international annual memorial. This year the event also honored Lawrence King, a 14- year-old student who wore make-up and feminine clothing and was shot to death by middle school classmate in Oxnard, Calif.
TELEVISION
In the 2008-09 season, which GLAAD declares has the highest number of LGBT characters ever on primetime TV, only two were trans: Candis Cayne on the now canceled Dirty Sexy Money, and Ugly Betty’s Rebecca Romijn. At least Cayne was an actual trans woman, as was America's Next Top Model’s first transgender contestant, 22-year-old Isis. LOGO’s reality dating show TransAmerican Love Story, in which a bevy of bachelors competed for the attention of openly trans actress Calpernia Addams, was actually groundbreaking if for no other reason than—as Andrea James (Addams’ best friend, business partner and fellow trans activist, who aided her selection) suggests—it helped “eliminate the stigma and the mystery of who dates [trans women].”
After nine years of producing and hosting GenderTalk radio, trans women Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene MacKenzie have switched to video, creating GenderVision programs, such as, “Trans Partner: Gender & Relationship” featuring Helen Boyd and her husband Betty Crow.
In 2008 trans author Jacob Anderson-Minshall co-authored the Blind Faith mystery, began co-hosting the Gender Blender radio show on KBOO.fm and helped launch Portland, Oregon’s monthly LGBTQ literary series, QLiterati!.
Jacob Anderson-Minshall co-hosts Gender Blender on Portland, Oregon's KBOO 90.7 (streaming live at kbooo.fm). Download the November 18th episode on gender-based violence at kboo.fm. Jacob also writes the syndicated column TransNation, co-hosts Portland's QLiterati!, freelances with Just Out & KBOO radio news and co-authors the Blind Eye Mystery series. Blind Curves and Blind Leap are available through boldstrokesbooks.com and bookstores nationwide. Discover more at anderson-minshall.com or myspace.com/blindeyemysteries.
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