"My whole life has been a fight. From being bullied at school consistently, kids threatening to kill me and going into graphic detail how they were going to do it, my own father beating me and calling me a f****t, to receiving industry blowback after speaking publicly about being sexually assaulted on the job... This was a victory that made all of that s*** worth it."-Teddy Quinlivan
Another day, another instance of trans folks winning despite the hostile forces arrayed against us.
Meet 25 year old model Teddy Quinlivan. She has walked runways for Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Gucci before coming out as trans in 2017.
Like many folks who have lived non disclosed trans lives (AKA stealth) before coming out, the Boston born Quinlivan thought her career might be over after doing so, but as Geena Rocero found out after coming out, it is starting to lead to more groundbreaking opportunities, not less.
She has continued to walk Fashion Week runways, appear on magazine covers like Porter Magazine and L'Officiel, and do beauty campaigns for Redken, Milk Makeup and Maison Margiela Fragrances.
But the one she recently landed is historic and deeply personal for her. Quinlivan has now become the first openly trans model to be hired by Chanel to helm a beauty campaign.
I had walked 2 shows for Chanel while I was living in stealth (stealth meaning I hadn’t made my trans identity public yet) and when I came out I knew I’d stop working with some brands, I thought I’d never work with the iconic house of Chanel ever again," she wrote. "But here I am in Chanel Beauty Advertising. I am the first openly trans person to work for the house of Chanel, and I am deeply humbled and proud to represent my community."
Congratulations Teddy! It's is not only a huge win for you personally, but one for the trans community as well. It's just more evidence that coming out as trans doesn't mean the end of your dreams.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the day that Monica Helms, while she was living in Arizona, created the original trans pride flag that now rests in the Smithsonian.
The flag is made up of five stripes. Two baby blue, which represents the masculine and the traditional color of baby boys. Two pink stripes represent the feminine as the traditional color of baby girls, and the white center stripe that represents gender non conforming and folks who are transitioning.
It is also designed so that no matter which way it is flown, it is always correct. That symbolizes according to Helms, how we're always trying to find completeness in our lives.
On this same August 19 day in 2015, Helms donated the original trans pride flag to the Smithsonian where it was displayed at the last White House Pride Reception in June 2016.
That Helms Trans Pride flag first flew publicly at a pride parade in Phoenix, AZ in 2000 and since then has become over these last 20 years the widely accepted flag representing the international trans community .
That has been demonstrated by the creation of ginormous trans pride flags by groups in Mexico City and Palm Springs, CA which held the previous record for the largest trans pride flag ever created, and now the current record holders in Los Angeles
That flag, created for the LA Resist pride march in June 2017 is 25 feet 6 inches by 160 feet (7.8 meters by 48.7 meters).
Happy Trans Pride Flag day! Thanks Sea Monica for being inspired to create it.
It came after their stock price dropped 40%, they had to close 53 stores across the USA, their CEO Jan Singer resigned, they announced they aren't doing the televised Victoria's Secret fashion show after it had it's worst ratings ever, and lost model Karlie Kloss over chief marketing office Ed Rezek's transphobic comments.
Congrats to Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio, who was just hired as their first out trans model.
The 22 year old Sampaio is no stranger to blazing trails in the modeling industry. She was the first out trans model to ever grace the cover of French Vogue and the first to do so for Brazilian Vogue in her native Brazil.
And now she become the first trans angel, as Vickie's Secret calls their models.
Will they be hiring more trans models to rip their runways? And when the Victoria's Secret Fashion show comes back on TV after its retooling, will a diverse group of models be part of it?
That remains to be seen if it happens.
But congrats to Valentina Sampaio for making that breakthrough. Hope it leads to many more trans models getting a shot to wear those Victoria's Secret angel wings.
I first met Sarah McBride back during the 2012 NBJC Out on the Hill event when she was a White House intern and i was visiting the Obama White House for an all day policy briefing.
After being pleasantly surprised pleased to see a girl like us Obama White House intern, I made a mental note to keep up with her because I felt at the time she was destined to do some great things for our community and our country.
My intuition about her turned out to be right on target. Sarah went on after completing that White House internship to do some amazing things.
She was hired by HRC to become its national press secretary. In 2013 she helped pass her home state of Delaware's statewide trans non discrimination law, and received the Delaware Order of the First State for her efforts to do so from former Gov. Jack Markell.
She became the first out trans person to make a political convention stage speech when she did so during the 2016 DNC convention in Philadelphia.
And now Sarah McBride is attempting to become a Delaware state senator in 2020.
She recently announced her candidacy for a recently vacated state senate seat, and if she's successful, she will become the first out trans person to ever be elected as a state senator.
But her run will focus on the issues facing her potential constituents, not her trans identity.
"At the end of the day, I'm not running to be a transgender state senator, I'm running to be a senator who serves her community, I'm running to be a senator who fights for affordable health care, I'm running to be a senator who works to expand access to paid leave and reform our broken criminal justice system," McBride told local radio station WDEL. "Those will be my priorities."
She's running for the Delaware 1st District seat formerly held by Harris McDowell (D-Wilmington North) He was Delaware's longest serving state senator, having been first elected to the chamber in 1976.
McDowell announced his retirement on June 30, the last day of the 2019 legislative session, and capping a 44 year career.
I'm already enthusiastically giving her a 2020 TransGriot endorsement for this position. I'm also hoping this happens for her, her potential constituents and our community.
"What an honor a pride to be part of the history of @missuniverse. This is for you, for those who have no visibility, no voice, because we all deserve a world of respect, inclusion and freedom. And today I am here, proudly representing my nation, all women and human rights." -Angela Ponce
While she wrote those words on her Instagram page in Spanish, they were clearly understood all over the world.
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The eyes on much of the world were turned to Bangkok and the 2018 Miss Universe Pageant to see if Angela Ponce could become the first ever trans feminine Miss Universe.
And yeah, admit it. Some of you were tearing up like I was when she made that solo walk on the Miss Universe stage last night to a standing ovation. .
Heavy favorite Catriona Gray of the Philippines was one of the last two women standing onstage at Miss World two years ago and didn't win. The 24 year old had a much happier result this time, becoming the fourth Filipina to capture the crown
While Ponce didn't make it to the Top 20 semifinalists, can't say enough how proud I am, trans feminine kids, and trans women around the world are that a girl like us was repping her country and us in the world's premiere beauty pageant.
Yes, elements of you hate on trans feminine women for irrational reasons. Elements of you also hate on beauty pageants for a lot of reasons.
For the trans feminine people who compete in them, pageants are a way to have who we are and have always known ourselves to be affirmed to the entire world.
Many trans feminine pageant contestants have been standing a lot taller this week knowing that a girl like us achieved a dream many of them had to one day compete in a premiere pageant like Miss Universe.
Trans women around the world were also standing a little taller as well.
Angela Ponce shook off the haters and represented us with class and dignity from the moment she won Miss Spain in June to competing in Miss Universe. And while we didn't get to see trans history made on that Bangkok stage last night. it's just a matter of time before some trans girl walks away from a future Miss Universe pageant with the crown.
And note to the willfully ignorant haters out there, trans women are women.
Ponce said in the runup to the pageant, "I don't need to win, I just need to be here."
But by just being in this year's Miss Universe competition and being on stage, you won in so many ways not only for yourself, but an entire community. It also by you being on stage expands the horizons for what trans feminine kids can dare to dream about and accomplish.
Ms. Ponce blazed a trail and set a standard that a future trans Miss Universe winner must acknowledge when she does win that title
On October 12 Tracey Nadzieja was sworn in as a commissioner in the Maricopa County Superior Court. That made her the first trans judge in the state of Arizona and only the third ever in the United States.
In case you're wondering who the other two are, they are Phyllis Frye here in Houston and Vicky Kolakowski in California.
“That’s the weird thing about doing this. Yes, I’m the first, and that’s a story,” Nadzieja said in an interview. “But on the other hand, what I had basically hoped going into this job is that people won’t see that part of the story. That the whole transgender part of the story will ultimately become an absolute non-issue. That people will just see me as somebody who is competent, fair, dedicated and just like anybody else.”
Still, Nadzieja becoming a judge is a tremendous point of pride to the Arizona trans community. She is also ascending to a judicial bench at a time when the trans community is under assault from the Trump misadministration.
There's a new generation of trans models who are keeping the tradition of the long stylish line of trans models going into the 21st century. The best part about this current generation of trans models for me is that I not only am pleased and proud to call some of them my friends, I'm happy to note that the fashion industry is embracing them.
More importantly, the fashion industry is giving trans models unprecedented opportunities to work and have a successful modeling career.
More evidence of this occurred during the recently concluded 2018 New York Fashion Week.
On September 9 a groundbreaking fashion show took place during this year's New York Fashion Week sponsored by LA based designer Marco Morante.
His Marco Marco brand of clothing has always catered to the TBLGQ community, and this time he took it a step further by casting all 34 spots in his New York Fashion Week show with trans people.
While it is not uncommon to have out and non disclosed trans people strutting the catwalks during the New York Fashion Week major runway shows, they tend to be in those instances cast in shows that are overwhelmingly comprised of cis models.
The Marco Marco Collection Seven show was the first time in New York Fashion Week history that a major show was cast in which all the participating models were transgender.
“Although I have always had trans and non binary people in my shows, it became apparent to me that their presence was often overshadowed by cis gay men or cis gay men in drag,” designer Marco Morante said in an interview when asked about the casting. “I wanted to create a space to celebrate trans bodies. This was an opportunity for their presence to be undeniable and reinforce that trans is beautiful.”
Morante is one of the small cadre of designers that openly prioritizes hiring trans models for their runway shows.
One of the participants in this historic show was my BTAC homie Dezjorn Gauthier, who rocked the runway along with models Laith Ashley, Geena Rocero, Carmen Carrera, Pose actresses Angelica Ross and Dominique Jackson, Transparent actress Trace Lysette, Gigi Gorgeous, Aydian Dowling, Gisele Xtravaganza, Claudia Charriez and Arisce Wanzer just to name a few of the trans peeps walking in the historic Collection Seven show that was attended by Laverne Cox.
Speaking of my BTAC homeboy, Gauthier had this to say about his participation in this historic show.
“It’s groundbreaking. Marco is breaking the glass ceiling for transgender models especially transmen. This was more than experience for me, it was an act of resilience”
Gauthier mentioned he will continue to use modeling as a form of advocacy to spread inspiration and empowerment worldwide.
“It’s about creating equal opportunity for those after me and continuing the work of those before me”
You know MJ Rodriguez as Blanca Rodriguez Evangelista from the hit FX show POSE that will kick off Season 2 in 2019. MJ Rodriguez, the actress who plays Blanca, is poised to make history when the 31st annual Hispanic Heritage Awards take place in Washington DC at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The 27 year old Rodriguez will be honored by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation with the Trailblazer Hispanic Heritage Award.
It is a prestigious one in the Latinx community that has previously gone to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Gloria Estefan, Rita Moreno, Celia Cruz, America Ferrera, Gael Garcia Bernal, Zoe Saldana, Ricky Martin and Placido Domino just to name some of the recipients of that award.
Congratulations to MJ as her name joins that distinguished list of honorees.
Rodriguez is being recognized for her “talent, courage and social impact,” according to Jose Antonio Tijerino, President and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. “Her story is a journey of triumph as she leads the way for transgender representation in Hollywood and beyond,” he said in a statement.
Rodriguez will become the first trans feminine woman ever to win this award, and the Hispanic Heritage Awards can be seen on PBS later this month.
As the Trump misadministration and their white fundie allies try to force transpeople back into the closet and strip us of what human rights coverage we've managed to achieve, other countries on this planet are moving forward on trans rights issues and making history.
Pakistan is an Islamic nation in which transpeople have been ostracized, shunned by family members, treated as a joke and at times violently attacked with a frequency only exceeded in Brazil.
But like here in the States and in other countries, the Pakistani trans community is getting landmark legal wins that are helping to open hearts and minds in the country.
Our trans cousins in Pakistan are celebrating as one of their own, Marvia Malik, became the first transgender news anchor in their nation. The 21 year old Malik is no stranger to breaking barriers in her nation. She recently became the first openly trans model to walk a fashion show runway there.
But her passion is journalism, and the private Kohenoor broadcast network based in Lahore decided to take a chance and hire her.
"I have made history in my country, and I vow to use my profession as anchor to help change the general attitude of our society towards transgender people."
"Our community should be treated equally and there must not be any gender discrimination. We should be given equal rights and be considered ordinary citizens, instead of third-gender," she said in a BBC interview.
She added: "My family knows I have modeled and they know that I work as a newscaster. It's the age of social media and there's nothing that my family doesn't know. But they have still disowned me."
She is grateful for the opportunity, and went through three months of training before she made her first on air broadcast. Malik has done so well that the station has hired a second trans person as a copywriter The owner of the station, Junaid Ansari, made it clear that Malik was hired for her journalism talent, not because she was transgender.
Malik's determination to be a change agent is echoed by Farzana Jan, the head of Pakistan's Trans Action Alliance. Jan is hopeful that Malik will not only be a positive role model, but be a catalyst for further positive change in Pakistan.
"Thank God, one of us is going on television in a serious job," Jan said. "Previously we've been presented as a joke. I hope and I believe this will help us get our rights, our protection and our respect".
Your trans cousins around the world hope that what you have expressed comes true in Pakistan.
Congratulation to Marvia, and hope she has a long problem free career as a television anchor.
As many of you are aware of, the Texas primary elections were held on Tuesday night. In addition to seeing who won, who lost, who made it to the May 22 runoff elections and who advanced to the November 6 general elections, some Texas trans political history was made.
Finnigan 'Finn' Jones is running for the Texas House 94 seat in North Texas. Because Jones didn't have an opponent in the Democratic primary, once the voting started, Jones became the first out trans masculine Texan to win a party primary race, and the first to do so for a Texas legislative seat.
Jones said this on his FB page when I pointed out the history he'd just made.
"Wow!!! I honestly had not even thought about that. As I pointed out to her (TransGriot), I am running for all of us. We have a right to have a voice at the table and be heard. Not just on lgbtq Rights, but on health care, public education, teacher retirement, discrimination in all forms and so much more,." he wrote.
"I am proud to be that voice and that ear for the community. I will always listen and I will always learn and progress forward. Our citizens deserve that much from their elected officials."
Yes, we do.
Hs opponent in the general election will be the incumbent state rep Tony Tinderholt.(R-Arlington) who is considered the fourth most conservative member of the Texas Legislature, is a member of the Texas Freedom Caucus and as you probably guessed, is not a friend of our community.
Finn is going to have his work cut out for him if he is going to make the history of becoming the first trans Texan elected to our state legislature.
But as the old saying goes, you have to be in it to win it, and Finn has cleared the first hurdle to make that happen by getting the Democratic Party nomination.
Here's hoping he makes even more history on November 6.
Despite being in a moment in this country in which the humanity and human rights of trans people are under attack by the Trump Misadministration and their white fundie allies, the opposite is happening in Hollywood as trans people become a more visible and active part of the motion picture industry
Trans excellence was on display during last night's Oscars, with Janet Mock and actress Daniela Vega rocking the Oscar red carpets to kick the night off and us waiting to see in trans director Yance Ford's name would be called to collect his first Oscar.
Vega would also make history as the first ever openly trans presenter during the Oscars main ceremony. She introduced Sufjan Stevens, whose song 'Mystery of Love' for the Call Me By Your Name soundtrack was nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar.
She would later in the evening join her castmates on stage as the movie she was the lead actress in, A Fantastic Woman, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film.
That made her the first openly trans actress to play a trans character in an Oscar winning film.
So yeah Hollywood, your not so subtle hint to not only hire trans actors and actresses for trans roles, but consider letting them have an opportunity to play cisgender characters as well
Attention then turned on this night to trans masculine director Yance Ford to see if he would make more trans Oscar history on a night that was turning into an amazing one for transkind. .
He had already made Oscar history back in January when he became the first openly transgender director to be nominated for an Oscar.
Ford already had four previous documentaries under his belt, but his fifth one Strong Island, was up for the Best Documentary nomination
Unfortunately it was not to be his night, as the documentary Icarus got the Oscar in Ford's category..
I have no doubt we will see this gifted filmmaker again on a Oscar stage, and hopefully it will be to make an acceptance speech as he gets to hold that stateutee in his hands
But it sure would have been nice to see #BlackTransExcellence rewarded last night
Congrats to Daniela and Yance for making history and repping our community well. It was also nice to see my sis Janet ripping the red carpet to shreds.
Will be interesting to see what transpires at next year's Oscars.
The Oscars happen on March 4 in Hollywood, and the initial group of people tapped to be awards presenters has been announced. For the first time, one of the twelve instage presenters for this year's 90th edition of the Academy Awards will be an out trans person.
Rge person given the honor of repping the trans community on that Oscar stage will be Chilean actress Daniela Vega.
The 28 year old Vega is the star of the Oscar nominated film A Fantastic Woman in which she plays Marina Vidal, the trans protagonist in this Sebastian Lelio movie. She loses her life partner Orlando, ,and her trans status makes it difficult for her to mourn Orlando's death.
Hmm, another movie I'll have to check out.
A Fantastic Woman was nominated in the Best Foreign Language film category, and after getting award nominations and international acclaim for the role of Marina, there was buzz building that she could possibly be the person that finally made Academy Awards history and become the first out trans person ever nominated for an Oscar.
While that Best Actress nomination unfortunately didn't happen for Vega this time, she did get the consolation prize of being the first out trans person ever to be named as an Oscar presenter.
Congrats Daniela for making that history, and hopefully one day you'll be back on that Oscar stage to actually claim an Oscar of your own.
Today was the public inauguration in Minneapolis for Councilmembers Phillipe Cunningham and Andrea Jenkins, Mayor Jacob Frey and their council colleagues in the Minneapolis City Hall rotunda.
After the public inauguration, and the mayor's inauguration speech, they and their city council colleagues immediately went to the council chambers to meet and elect a new council president and determine who the various committee chairs would be.
It's going to be an exciting but busy day for Andrea and Phillipe in Minneapolis today. They'll find out their committee assignments, and after that get busy with the nuts and bolts work of helping to run Minneapolis.
And looking forward to hearing them talk about it the next time I get to spend quality time with either of them.
When the LGBT Media Journalists Convening happened in Philadelphia in 2014, the host hotel for it was right across the street from a trans historical site in Dewey's Lunch Counter.
52 years ago today a successful sit in a protest jumped off by African-American gender variant teens who were told they would be refused service if they were not in gender appropriate attire happened here.
This happened a year before Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco and four years before Stonewall. The Deweys protest was also another instance of a trans themed protest happening in the US and one that we know of with significant African-American involvement.
Since 1978 a 24 hour eatery has been open in the former Dewey's space called Little Pete's. I'd eaten there with a strange sense of deja vu not long after I arrived in Philly and got settled into my #LGBTMedia14 hotel room. I spotted it while gazing out the window of my room, was still hungry from my travel day, and just decided to check it out and grab something to eat there since it was close.
I was told a few hours later at the opening LGBT Media mixer event by a Philadelphia attendee who knows my love of history that we were across the street from the old Dewey's, and subsequently told all the trans journalists we were right across the street from a trans historical site.
During a break in Saturday's LGBT Media programming, all the trans journalists in attendance, myself, Gwen Smith, Dawn Ennis, Gretchen Hammond, Jos Truitt, Cristan Williams and Becky Juro along with NLGJA executive director Adam Pawlus walked across the street to take a photo in front of Little Pete's and pay respects to our sadly unknown elders who participated in that trans humanity centric protest.
Well peeps, if you wish to replicate that photo, better do it soon because the sad news I'm hearing is that Little Pete's will be permanently closing next month, Its last day of business will be May 29, and after that it has a date with a wrecking ball to make room for a Hyatt Centric hotel.
It's always sad to me when a historic site closes, Here's hoping that someone in the Philly LGBT community will work to have a historical marker placed at that spot where Black trans history was made once the new hotel is completed.
'But only when a transgender person poses on the front cover of a fashion magazine and it is no longer necessary to write an editorial on the subject will we know that the battle is won.-Emmanuelle Alt, French Vogue editor
The French edition of Vogue magazine was founded in 1920, and despite the long list of stunning French trans women like Coccinelle, Marie-Pier Ysser, Marie-Pierre 'Bambi' Pruvot and most recently model Ines-Loan Rau, I was surprised to discover that Vogue Parishas never had a trans woman on the cover of their magazine until now.
The trans woman who has made that breakthrough fashion and French magazine history is Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio. She recently graced the cover of Elle Brazil, and has starred in an ad campaign for L'oreal Paris.
"This month we are proud to celebrate transgender beauty and how models like Valentina Sampaio, who is posing for her first ever Vogue cover, are changing the face of fashion and deconstructing prejudice."said Vogue Paris on their Instagram account and pic of the historic cover.
The 21 year old Sampaio is also set to rip the runway for Saint Laurent soon, and will be on the March cover of Vogue Paris that hits newsstands on February 23. It is the first time ever that a trans feminine woman has graced the cover of any French magazine.
The translated French title from the cover reads: Transgender beauty; How they're shaking up the world.
We most certainly are. It's also just another day and another historic accomplishment checked off the list for my sisters here in the US and around the world who are part of the long stylish line of trans models. Vogue Paris editor Emmanuelle Alt said,"Valentina is on the cover of Vogue this month, not just for her looks or her sparkling personality, but because despite herself she embodies an age-old arduous struggle to be recognised and not to be perceived as something Other.”
Alt also said in her editorial that, “Trans people, the ultimate symbol of a rejection of conformity, are icons that Vogue supports and chooses to celebrate."
We transwomen around the world deeply appreciate you Vogue Paris for doing so.
But Alt also recognized that we have a long way to go to get to the point that seeing a trans feminine person on the cover of a fashion magazine becomes a mundane event.
I'm looking forward to speed up the day that we don't even have to find it necessary to say or argue the point that trans is beautiful, and trans women in all shapes, sizes and skin tones are beautiful in many ways.
I'm hoping that day comes along with all my sisters, and I'm here to witness it.
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