When I first came truly “out” in 2000, many transsexual women were still living in stealth; hordes of cross-dressers were still in the closet, and those that were out had mostly confined there occasional Girl’s Night Out(s) to cross-dressing parties. 

The drag-queens had already gone through a metamorphosis of their own a decade before, but that merely consisted of a shift in who they impersonated, the height of their wigs and the glitz of their outfits. For all the cross-dressing and transsexual communities bitching about the “queens,” they are perhaps the least complicated, and least affected during the past 10-15 years.  But the questioning individuals were suddenly being overwhelmed trying to sort out the entire new vernacular being bantered about.

The explosion of the Internet, with the information and communication that it provided, educated, connected and empowered transgender people -- and those around them – like never before.  In fact when I founded the Girls Club, I took my little retinue on various nightly adventures throughout the city – to gay, straight and transgender events, parties and bars -- and then posted photos online, as did other groups like ours around the country.

Countless closeted cross-dressers were now suddenly aware that they weren’t alone in the world.  Years later Genifer Teal said that “I was closeted, but then saw photos of your group out and about having so much fun, that it inspired me to get out and attend your party.”  These days there isn’t a trans-event within 4oo miles of New York City that Genifer doesn’t attend: the girls everywhere! and in turn is bringing others out of hiding.

This coming out of the shadows and the showing of their numbers, in part, has given strength and momentum to a fragmented community’s march towards equal rights that only this decade has begun to take root.  Transgender people on the front lines of that battle started to lead their own movement, rather than remain the step-children of the gay rights movement -- as they had been since the Stonewall Riots of 1969.  It July 4th in the summer of 2003 on Fire Island Bianca Leigh noted, “Transgirls started a riot, and you all [gay people] got rights.  How did that happen?”

But by 2003 the transgender community was beginning to align their ships in the same direction, sort of. The winds of change take time to consolidate power, but national and local organizations -- like Gpac, the Transgender Law Center, and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund -- were making progress. They were educating lawmakers and the general public, defending trans-people that were taking discrimination cases to court, and also lobbying for -- and affecting -- legislative changes.

During the Mid-20th century, the only transsexuals the mainstream had ever heard about were those few with sensationalized stories: Christine Jorgensen, Coccinelle, and decades later, Georgina Beyer, and the outing of Renee Richards.  What the mainstream wasn’t aware of was that there have been – and are – thousands of transsexuals in the mainstream achieving different levels of success in all walks of life.  Until the past decade however, most of them had done so in stealth.

Lauren Foster was discovered by Eve Saint Laurent in the 1970s, and by the 1980s she was walking the runways around the world and being endorsed by some of the biggest advertisers in the pages of Vogue and other fashion magazines.  It was only during her participation as a contestant for the Miss South Africa that she was out-ed by another contestant.  She continued to work as a model for many years afterward, but did lose all of her lucrative print ad campaigns in the States.  And it was this impact on one’s financial ability that kept so many quiet.

But change came, and in just the past few years there is a new crop of fashion models that are breaking into the business --- but, not in stealth.  Lea T. of Brazil has been all the rage, endorsed by the likes of Givenchy, Blue Man, and other labels, while Andrej Pejiic has been a sensation, modeling for both men’s and women’s labels at the fashion industry’s biggest shows.

It might have been transgender women like Sylvia Rivera, Miss Tish and others --whose cries for equality and acts of defiance in the face of police brutality in 1969 actually started the Stonewall Riots, but it was those that followed that have continued to push the trans-movement into the mainstream and into the spotlight and change minds, hearts and legal policy.

Pauline Park made great strides in affecting change in New York policy as Chairwoman of the New York Association for Gender Advocacy (NYAGRA).  Diego Sanchez became the first transman to be hired to a senior congressional position; Victoria Kolakowski won election to become Superior Court judge of Alameda County; Gina Davis was appointed the first trans Vice President  of the Metropolitan Business Association;  Amanda Simpson was appointed by President Obama as Senor Technical Advisor ( the first time a trans-person has been appointed to the executive branch of government), Allyson Robinson was the first trans-woman to be hired by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), where she has served as their Associate Director of Diversity,

In every walk of life trans-people are emerging and achieving in a wide array of disciplines: lawyers, doctors, nurses, truck drivers, policemen, IT, graphic arts, and well, everywhere. And by doing so publicly, suddenly trans-people are being seen as productive people.  They are smashing the myths that were always portrayed by the media [in the past] of “deranged” transvestites, which the mainstream was only too happy to accept as fact.

Performers too break down the barriers, and serve as ambassadors of goodwill.  Eddie Izzard the “Executive Transvestite” is talented as a standup comedian so much so that the mainstream transcends his cross-dressing pretty quickly.  Singer-songwriter Venus, who told me that “I’m a transgender person, I can never be fully a woman, and am no longer a man,” has amassed a wide and varied mainstream following through her performances, persona and lyrics that depict concepts that are trans-centric, yet universal.

While drag is an art-form unto itself, more and more transgender performers are recording and performing live, in a variety of genres. Cabaret chanteuse Veronica Klaus (watch video); multi Bisto award winners Tommy Femia and Rick Skye, Randy Roberts, Joey Arias, Raven-O, and the Tony nominated Justin Vivan Bond are wowing audiences continually.  Talent in the transgender community is rich and abundant.

On the big (film) and little (TV) screens also transgender actresses are breaking into the mainstream.  While Aleshia Brevard, Coccinelle, and Bibi Fernanadez have all appeared in films, this decade has seen trans-actresses in award-winning films and primetime television.  Harmony Santana starred in Gun Hill Road, while Candis Cayne became the first transsexual women to play a transsexual woman on prime time television. Maria Roman, Cassandra Cass and Tiera Russell starred on Showtime’s Wild Things, RuPaul returned to TV with Drag Race and Drag U, and Jamie Clayton stars in HBO’s Hung.

We’ve seen young transsexuals coming out as kids and teenagers in rising numbers.  Jazz, who was interviewed on ABC, is just one of many transgender kids that have refused to allow anyone to define them; seven-year old Bobby Montoya was just accepted into the Girl Scouts of America, while Km Petra (watch video) gained international attention as a teen pop star.

Jessica Compton quietly graduated Summa Cum Laude at San Diego University, Jesse Vasold was crowned homecoming queen at the College of William and Mary,  and the University of Pennsylvania added trans-surgery to its student insurance plan. All across the country transgender students are pressing for equal rights and gender recognition.

Overseas, Rose Venkatesan (India) became a nationally televised talk-show host while in transition, Harisu, the International singer-model sensation from South Korea was openly married,  Priyanka (India) has a respectable life as a radio DJ in a country that detests trans-people,  Taiwanese model Alicia Liu has come out as transsexual, Jin Xing, who was a former colonel in the Chinese army – who transitioned in 1996 -- is now regarded as one of the world’s foremost dance choreographers, Anna Grodzka won a seat in the Polish parliament, and Bell Nuntita, the sensation of “Thailand’s Got Talent” has  become a star on tour.

The young Chinese student Shen Qingqing is being called the "first transsexual of Jiangxi Province” after she listed herself as SHE in the school registration booklet, and the story carried in over 280,000 netzines, Bangalore University became the first university in India to offer higher learning to transgender people, Central Bangkok College officially recognizes “lady-boys” at their school, and Nepal has added transgender to its census.  AND, we saw the opening of the first cross-dressing Maid Café in Japan.  If that isn’t progress, well …

The world-wide movement under way by the transgender community is challenging the mainstream to consider altering previously adopted norms.  Progress on any human rights effort requires a shift in the status quo, which is only achieved through a combination of mainstream education and legislative policy.  So while the activists have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to educate legislators, others have put themselves -- and their lives – on the front line in the spotlight to the benefit of the entirety of the transgender community.

On this, Thanksgiving day, take just a moment to gives thanks for them, the warrior and defenders of your right to exist, to be here free from scrutiny.  The struggle has required those that came before us to sacrifice,   to risk mental and emotion abuse, as well as physical harm.

Stand tall and be proud of who you are as a remembrance that they were here and made a difference.

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