Fun With Andrea and Calpernia

One of the cool things about the transgender community is when you finally get to talk to people in real time that you have much admiration and respect for.

I'm blessed to have had numerous opportunities to experience that over the years, and another one came tonight thanks to U of L Pride week.

Calpernia and I met and talked during the 2004 SCC. This was the first time that Andrea and I had an opportunity to have a substantive face to face chat.

Andrea and Calpernia were here to deliver the keynote address of the ongoing U of L Pride celebration.

The 2009 edition of U of L Pride Week has had a transgender theme for most of it, and their speech focused on media issues and what their Deep Stealth Productions has done to push the positivity envelope when it comes to the images of transpeople in the media.

In addition to discussing their work and giving tips for how we transpeeps in our locales can become more media savvy when dealing with the press, we were also treated to their short film entitled Transproofed.



These women are doing work in Hollywood which is just as important as the work other trans activists are doing in their various locales educating legislators, academia, and the medical profession about our issues.

Andre Agassi when he was playing tennis had a commercial with the tag line of 'image is everything.' These ladies definitely understand that when it comes to images, Hollywood can make or break a marginalized group in that regard.

I had a blast talking to them last night and I'm looking forward to the next time our paths cross again.