If you look for trans individuals in the movies, on tv or in books it’s hard to find. I am guessing if you do find them it’s because gender identity is the story line or helps the story line, not just because.

I keep thinking about S. Bear Bergman’s book, The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, where he talks about how trans individuals are portrayed in the media, particularly as a deceptive group. Think Crying Game and you get the picture. Then I thought about Candis Cayne, the gorgeous actress who portrayed a trans woman in the tv series Dirty Sexy Money. I loved that she was on prime time, but at the same time I wished it wasn’t in a story line about a politician trying to keep his affair with a trans woman out of the media spotlight. Why couldn’t she have been a boring, but very attractive co-worker or neighbor? I guess that isn’t quite saucy enough.

Who represents our children?

I’ve searched high and low for books that represent my daughter, but I haven’t found a single one. Warning! Tangent- Please do not suggest 10,000 Dresses. Most people who recommend this book do so without reading it first. Trust me, big mistake. It’s one of my daughter’s least favorite books. She actually re-wrote the ending to this book because she and her brother found it so offensive. The main character who is painfully shunned by hir whole family sees a friendly stranger on a porch and goes into their house. Does anyone else see the problem with stranger-danger here? Encouraging vulnerable kids to seek emotional and physical shelter in a (possible) predator’s home is grossly irresponsible.

Since the books, movies and tv shows are lagging behind we just have to keep putting our stories and images out there until the world stops slapping a label on what it means to be transgender and starts seeing all people for who they are- unique, beautiful and yes, different in a good way.