THEGAYUK

Tag: Trans

This is where you can find all articles about and for the trans community. Are we missing something? Send an email to newsdesk@thegayuk.com

  • Evander Holyfield On The Wrong Side Of LGBTs Again

    Former Heavy Weight champion Evander Holyfield has once again caused controversy within the LGBT community after saying that Caitlyn Jenner is still Bruce.

    Evander Holyfield has been slammed after referring to Caitlyn Jenner as Bruce, despite the former Olympian turned TV star announcing her name is now Caitlyn.

    However Holyfield who has a history of bigoted views against gay people said after an impassioned acceptance speech by Jenner at the ESPYS awards, “I just know that’s Bruce Jenner and I’ll leave it at that”, according to BBC Newsbeat.

    The boxer who once said that being gay wasn’t “normal” has been criticised by trans activists who maintain that it is inappropriate to use someone’s old name, when it’s been made clear that the person wants people to use a new name and pronouns to describe them.

  • Meet Scott Turner Schofield, America’s First Transgender Soap Star

    In 1998, Julie Hesmondhalgh made history playing Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper, the world’s first regular transgender character on a soap opera. 17 years later, an American soap finally broke that same barrier when The Bold and the Beautiful’s Maya, played by Karla Mosley, was revealed as a trans woman. A couple months later, the soap introduced another trans character, Nick, played by the actor Scott Turner Schofield.

    What makes Schofield’s casting historic is that he is the first openly transgender actor cast in a US soap. Shows such as Loving and All My Children have featured transgender characters, but they were fleeting storylines featuring minor characters played by cis actors.
    The Bold and the Beautiful—seen daily by 35 million people in 100 countries—has taken it to a whole new level. “It’s being told in a way that I have wanted trans stories to be told for over a decade. It is telling a love story, it is telling a family story, it is telling our stories right,” Schofield says. He credits the show’s writers and producers, led by head writer and executive producer Bradley Bell, for consulting with GLAAD and getting the story right. “I can’t tell you how happy I am with the writers and being able to deliver text that is so smart… It’s taking a transgender woman of colour and taking a white transgender man and… opening that whole world up in an inclusive, intelligent, and correct way.”

    Schofield’s character, Nick, debuted in May as a close friend of Maya, whom Schofield describes as the show’s “leading lady.” Since then, he has shared screen time with some of daytime television’s biggest stars, including Thorsten Kaye and Jacob Young, calling them “lovely, lovely men.” Kaye, he says, helped calm his nerves on set, while Young took to Twitter to defend the “love story” being told between his character, Rick, and Maya. “What an ally,” he says of Young.

    But he saves some of his deepest praise for Mosley. Before meeting her, he said she was “of the opinion that only transgender people should play transgender roles.” He asked the producers what Mosley’s reaction had been, to which he says they responded with “how can I possibly do this justice? I have to do this justice,” saying she has researched the role and talked to trans women, including Janet Mock, in an effort to get it right.

    “I have full respect for Karla,” he adds. “She’s a wonderful person, her heart is in the right place, and she knows what she’s doing.”

    Still, he does hope his casting will open the doors for other trans actors on television. “There is a slew” of other trans actors just ready for the big break, he says. “The floodgates are about to open.”

    It’s been an uphill battle for trans actors, including Schofield. Despite the emergence of icons such as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner, and Schofield’s on praise for his co-star Mosley, the bulk of trans roles still go to cis actors. For Schofield, The Bold and the Beautiful marks his television debut, something he’s been working a decade toward. “I always wanted to be an actor,” he says. “I was the kid who got in front of the TV and pissed off my parents by trying to perform all the time.”

    The pressures of living in a society that often ostracises trans people took a toll, though. “You can become an excellent actor (as a trans person) because you’ve been training your entire life” by being misgendered at birth, “or you can go into a place where you are never yourself,” he says.

    “Because I was transgender, I couldn’t get any roles. I was doing great in my classes. My teachers all said I was a good actor.” But, he adds, casting directors could tell he wasn’t completely being himself. “Coming out as trans and really living my life… is what enabled me to get this role on The Bold and the Beautiful.”

    Though the show is his biggest role to date, it’s not the first time Schofield has been in the limelight. He has produced and starred in two internationally touring one-man shows and given a well-received Ted Talk, each focusing on gender identity and trans experiences. “I like to try to elevate the narrative,” he says, explaining that for him “transition (wasn’t) about me. I knew who I was. I had to transition the world.”
    “I was walking in a world where people were calling me a she when I knew I was a he, and that wasn’t about me. It was about everybody else.”

    His aim is to challenge not only assumptions and misconceptions about trans people but also the social construction of what it means to be a man. “We need to talk about masculinity,” he says. “Coming up there and being a white guy, yet being a white guy that you really need to think about—I think if we thought about being white guys more, if we thought about being men and what that means, that would push us further in society.”

    While his duration on The Bold and the Beautiful is uncertain (Schofield is not under contract), he’s already busy working on his next project. Ze Said/She Said, a web series he created and stars in with his fiancé, Jessica Lynn Johnson, debuted on YouTube last month. Though scripted, he describes it as “the bastard child of reality television and comedy.” Based around their own lives, it’s a romantic comedy featuring a trans Yogi (Schofield) and a cisgender Christian (Johnson).

    Regardless of whether acting for the stage, television, or the internet, Schofield hopes to have a positive influence. With not only his own burgeoning profile but a growing understanding and acceptance of trans people, he has high hopes for the future.

    “I think that people who are kids now won’t have to come out as trans. They will just live into that.”

  • COMMENT: Things We Have Learned thanks to Caitlyn Jenner

    When Caitlyn Jenner made her first appearance at the beginning of June, the world suddenly became acutely more aware of the T letter of LGBT. Her 8 part documentary series is due to be aired in America in July, and hopefully this will be totally different from the rather shallow and vacuous TV show that Caitlyn used to be part of. But what has this meant for what is usually the fringe part of the community and for the rest of us.

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  • Welsh Lib Dems Say Transgender Action Plan Does Not Go Far Enough

    The Welsh Liberal Democrats have welcomed the Welsh Government’s trans action plan, brought about by the party’s landmark debate, but says it falls short on many key issues.

    In November 2014, the Welsh Lib Dems led a landmark Assembly debate on issues faced by trans people in Wales – the first debate of its kind. The party’s motion, which was backed by the Welsh Government and all parties, called for action to improve the provision of public services for all Welsh trans people.

    The Transgender Action Plan, launched today for consultation by the Welsh Government, does not specifically mention provision for a gender identity clinic in Wales nor creation of LGBT+ safe housing – two key issued raised by Welsh Lib Dem AMs during the debate.
    Peter Black AM, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Shadow Equalities Minister, said:

    “I’m delighted that the Welsh Lib Dems’ landmark debate has resulted in positive action to improve the lives of trans people in Wales. However, there is much to be wanted from what’s been launched today.

    “During our debate, Welsh Lib Dem AMs raised specific concerns about the lack of a gender identity clinic and LGBT safe housing in Wales. Despite listening to these problems and promising to address them, there’s no specific mention of either issue in this document. We will be making our views on this clear as we respond to the consultation.

    “Labour Ministers seem more focused on ensuring inclusivity in the public services already provided, rather than addressing the gaps in trans-specific services where Wales falls short. While inclusivity is of course vital, I had hoped we’d see something a bit more ambitious from the Welsh Government.”

  • INTERVIEW | Eric Schaeffer

    Once in a while we come across a new small movie that is unafraid to tackle important issues with a very big heart, and Boy Meets Girl is certainly one such film. It is a tender, human, sex-positive romantic comedy that explores what it means to be “real”: to live and love authentically to the truth of one’s heart, regardless of the sex or small town you’re born into. We were so moved by the refreshing and sensitive way that writer/director Eric Schaeffer told this story that stars a transgender girl but is so much more about all the other people in her life who learn to embrace their own identities. It also challenges us to suspend our preconceived views on gender labels and be as open to what happens as these lovelorn kids are.

    We were not the first to give this movie a 5 Star review, but THEGAYUK is the first UK gay publication to sit down with ERIC SHAEFFER to find out more about his remarkable new film, Boy Meets Girl.

    RWD: Where did the story come from?
    ES: It’s dramatically very similar to all my other eight movies. Everyone I know has a very colourful myriad of sexual and emotional feelings and interests that really don’t fit into the narrow boxes that society puts us in, and what I like to write about is breaking out of the confines of these boxes. I came up with this idea of writing about a transgender girl in a small town in the South and challenging the boy meets girl cliché, and so this is, in fact, a broad simplistic kind of romance but with a twist that middle America and the rest of the world can relate.

    I am a straight man and I date women and I have dated transgender women as well in the past. Getting to intimately know some transgender women and also meeting transgendered men gave me the idea of wanting to write about them. The idea that a cisgender straight man who had always dated cisgender women started to be interested in dating transgendered women at a certain point of his life was very interesting to me. Opening up his heart and his eyes to dating these women I thought was a fascinating story especially as it had some real life correlation with me. However, quite honestly, the real driving force was much more abut making a story about people who at the core want to be loved for who they are, as that essentially is what all my films are about.

    Without giving too much away, what surprises so many people who have seen the movie is that Ricky the transgender girl had the smallest arc and the smallest transition emotionally of any of the characters.

    Everyone around her was having much more dramatic profound emotional realisations and that was very exactly what I planned. I wanted the character of Ricky the transgender girl to be ‘normal’ as possible in terms of her life goals, her challenges, her joys, her family and her friends. In a lot of movies, transgender characters are too often being portrayed as people who have all kinds of challenges that are different from cisgender people and that is not really the case in a lot of my own experience and from the research that I did. Most of my trans friends have very wonderful lives that are replete with all the same challenges and joys of cisgender people.

    The other young leads Robbie, Francesca and David are characters who slowly realise that they are being challenged by having the courage to lead lives that they want to live, and with convictions that they feel are right regardless of what society tells them, they should feel and how they should live. This is really what this movie is all about.

    BUY ERIC’S BOOK: I Can’t Believe I’m Still Single – Sane, Slightly Neurotic (But in a Sane Way) Filmmaker into Good Yoga, Bad Reality TV, Too Much Chocolate, and a Little Kinky Sex Seeks Smart, Emotionally Evolved … Oh Hell, At This Point Anyone Who’ll Let Me Watch Football.

    RWD: How did you find the wonderful Michelle Hendley, and how important was it to you that you cast a transgender actress in this part?
    ES: Besides Laverne Cox, there is a very very small list of transgender actors and actresses who are successful enough to be represented by agents, and so they are hard to find. I Googled both ‘transgendered women’ and ‘transgendered actress’, and by a stroke of luck, I found Michelle’s YouTube channel. On all her Vlogs she was talking about her life and her boyfriends and the fashions she liked and she clearly had a performance bone in her body because she was not afraid to be on the net and do these very impressive videos. She looked the part and is young and very pretty and had the right personality. When I got in touch with her she was understandably dubious because she didn’t know my work so she wasn’t sure if my offer of an audition was legit or not. I also had my concerns as she had never acted before and it is a far cry from having the charisma to make a Vlog to being in a feature film. Not only that, she was going to be the star in my movie, which was going to live or die on the performance of her alone. So I rehearsed and auditioned her over Skype and then flew her to NY and had her workshop with other actors. It was a six-month process before I gave her the part and over that time she worked harder and harder and got better and better.

    I had a lot of latitudes because this was an indie movie with a small budget so I could cast anyone I wanted in that part. Had it been a bigger film with a lot more money behind it I would have been answerable to both investors and a studio and I would probably have been under a great deal of pressure to cast a famous cisgender actress in that role. While every actor can portray all sort of characters who they aren’t in real life, no one can argue with the fact that a transgender woman would have the absolute organic profound experience of being transgender. I also thought it an important element of this whole project that I give this unique opportunity to a transgender girl.

    RWD: Was the YouTube plot line in the movie then taken from the Vlogs in her own life?
    ES: No, not at all. I thought it would be unrealistic to have a movie where everything was just so completely fantastic in her life, so I wanted to ground her and show her exposing her more troubled and challenging part of her youth with her making these online videos. I got the idea when I was actually looking around on the Internet trying to find an actress to play the part. I don’t know how I ended up on this video of this young 13-year-old edgy Goth tough-looking girl who was doing this cue card video about being bullied. At the end of this video, she broke into a smile, which was so disarming and completely charming as it made her look so childlike and sweet and adorable. It literally broke my heart when I later found out that this particular girl’s life ended tragically as she either killed herself or was killed.

    Although Ricky’s story has a much happier and positive outcome with such a supportive community, I still wanted people to understand that she didn’t always have a perfect life. So the cue card video sequence is to show that she had struggled with things that we all struggle with in her youth.

    I always wanted it to be very realistic and in fact, it is on the edge of being a fable, but it was also a very crucial element to me to ensure that there is a lot of positivity in the story.

    RWD: You very surprisingly gave her a completely supportive father and a loving kid brother. Why was that important to you?
    ES: Again in the world of wanting to paint this transgender character as being realistic, I thought it important that she have a supportive family life. Like most people, I had suffered from the delusion that is born out of what the media tells us, which portrays transgender women as being victims of a system that denies them the same experiences as cisgender women and not having loving support in their world. In my research, I found that was simply not accurate and many of the transgender women I spoke with came from small communities in the South and were not bullied and had fully supportive families.

    RWD: I read recently that someone wrote about your movies/TV shows: “They all tend to centre around love, or lovin’ and losin’. Usually involving sexual taboos at some point “which are a huge fascination of his”. How true is that, and where does Boy Meets Girl fit into that spectrum as a cursory glance at your resume, this seems quite a leap.
    ES: I don’t think that this is a large leap at all. If one looks at my body of work you would see tremendous similarities with the themes that are running through this film with those in all my other films. However, I don’t mind people thinking it is a change because there are three big departures from my norm. Firstly I chose not to star in this film like I usually do, and secondly, I abandoned my usual setting of New York and placed the action in the deep South, and thirdly I was writing for the first time about people in their early 20s. However quite honestly to me, it dramatically talks about things that I have always talked about.

    RWD: You swept the board at the San Diego Film Festival winning 11 awards, and amongst the many others you have been awarded is the prestigious Iris Prize in Cardiff. Do you think that will help you get the movie beyond gay film festival audiences?
    ES: We opened in New York movie theatres two weeks ago and did extremely well and Wolfe Video who have the world rights are now rolling it out theatrically right across the US before releasing it on VOD/DVD later on.

    RWD: Has it been marketed as a romantic comedy or specifically as an LGBT film?
    ES: Marketing people hate it when I insist that it is simply a movie for people who like good movies. I love the fact that my audiences cut right across a radical age range and sexual orientation and gender race. All my films, especially this one, are heart films, and hearts speak to hearts, and everyone has one. We marketed the film not as straight or LGBT but as a smart edgy sexy romantic comedy.

    RWD: You have a reputation for putting a great deal of your own story in your movies, is that a fair observation?
    ES: People often say that, and I will admit that some of my stuff is autobiographical but quite a lot is not. Wirey Spindell which I wrote, directed and starred in, is totally from my life, and he is a character who I am very closely connected too. However, unlike him, I never made a death pact to kill myself at 30 (laughs).

    The characters that I play in my own movies are very similar to me so in that respect they have the same personality traits, albeit thinly veiled. After Fall Winter, a movie I set in Paris, has a BDSM backdrop and the leading character that I play is interested in a lot of physical and emotional abuse. So much so that some of my friends who know I write about my life expressed their concerned and said, “Eric should we be worried about you?” I told them not to panic; I do have an imagination too (laughs).

    RWD: Let’s talk a little about Eric Schaeffer. You have one of the longest and funniest titles for a blog ever which you parlayed into a book and then a TV reality series I Can’t Believe You Are Single. How do you like living your life out loud and so publicly?
    ES: Whilst I would agree that it would appear that I lead my life very publicly in terms of some of my work, what may come as a total surprise is that I am also fiercely private too. In my book, I am certainly very open about aspects of my life and in my series, you can see me in some very compromising situations. Having said that I am a performer and I am a director and I do understand that there is a bit of me in every character that I play. I did that TV series 7/8 years ago and I really enjoyed it as it was fun to do, but that chapter of my life is definitely closed. I think going forward creatively that less personal projects may be more interesting to me now.

    Our world is very fractured and there is still a tremendous amount of bigotry and suffering borne out of the delusion of separateness and I really want my work to unite people. I think that I’m just a regular old dude but the big difference between me and other old dudes is that I accept who I am and I talk about it.

    RWD: What gives you the most satisfaction?
    ES: I really enjoy creating TV shows and movies and being part of a community of people experiencing a TV show or movie that I have made. I was at a screening of Boy Meets Girl in New York last week and I saw two men who had their heads on each other’s shoulders as they watched the movie. When it ended they looked at each other and had a really sweet love heart kiss, and that brought tears to my eyes. Seeing the bond these two lovers had that in some way my film had helped them create, was just priceless to me. That’s why I do what I do.

    RWD: What’s next for you Eric?
    ES: I’m spending the next 6 months making sure that Boy Meets Girl gets in front of as many people as possible as it can. Unlike bigger budget films where the filmmaker’s job is done once the movie is in the can, the life of an independent filmmaker like me is completely different. It’s just like having a child but whereas well-funded filmmakers have nannies to raise them, as an independent director you are more like a single parent dad. Once I have given my child the best upbringing I can then I will start writing my next project that I have already had ideas for.

  • Laverne Cox gets her own wax work

    Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox will not only have her very own wax figure at Madame Tussauds’ but she will also be the first transgender celebrity to have such an honour.

    One small snag for is that it will be be in their San Francisco Museum.

    Cox’s figure will be revealed during a San Francisco Pride press conference on June 26 and will be on display at the exhibit in Fisherman’s Wharf.

    In a statement from the San Jose Mecury News, Cox expressed a great deal of gratitude when talking about her achievement saying,

    “I am so deeply honoured to have been asked to be a part of the Madame Tussauds legacy…I hope that this will be a source of inspiration for everyone who encounters it to believe that their dreams matter and are possible.”

  • Understanding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities

    US based TEEN LINE published their latest excellent educational video called LGBTQ: Understanding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identities.

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  • University Awarded £50,000 To See Whether Calling Toilets “Gents” Or “Ladies” Is Discriminatory

    A research team from Sheffield Hallam University have been awarded nearly £50,000 to discover whether the terms “Gentlemen” “Ladies” and “Men’s Toilets” are accessible.

    The award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council is to fund research on the way public toilets are designed, ” in an effort to assess if they are fit for purpose for the UK’s diverse 21st Century society.”

    Led by Sheffield Hallam University’s Dr Jenny Slater, the Around The Toilet project is looking at the lack of adequate or accessible toilet provision for disabled and transgender people, amid fears that definitions such as “Gentlemen” “Ladies” and “Men’s Toilets” are out-dated and discriminatory.

    Dr Slater, from Sheffield Hallam University’s new Sheffield Institute of Education, will lead a project team including the University of Leeds, University of Sheffield, Action for Transgender Health, Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP) and Queer Of The Unknown Arts Collective on the nine-month project.

    She said,

    “Toilets may seem a frivolous subject but they are at the heart of important discussions about how we understand our own identities. The starting point for us is to explore how disabled people and those identifying as trans, gender-queer or non-binary are treated in modern society.

    “As well as issues around toilet closures we have much anecdotal evidence that suggests there is a lack of suitable facilities for our diverse population.

    “This project will also consider issues of race, ethnicity, age, religion, faith and homelessness through reflective storytelling, creative arts and performance.”

    Along with the announcement of their research, Dr Slater has also encouraged members of the public to post their experiences of toilets in Sheffield and beyond.

  • Preview Of I Am Cait Hits The Internet. Internet Goes Mad For It

    The US cable company E TV today released the first preview of Caitlyn Jenner’s new reality tv show ‘I Am Cait’ due to be aired from July 26th.

    No release date has been set for the UK …. but we will update you as soon as we know

  • Family Guy “Outed” Bruce Jenner 6 Years Ago

    Video of an episode of TV’s Family Guy that first aired in 2009 and had outed Bruce Jenner as a woman is circulating this week.

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  • Bruce Jenner And What It Truly Means To Be Transgender

    Over the past few months we have read and heard a lot of opinions on Bruce Jenner former sports hero and field athlete and currently world famous for his part in Keeping up with the Kardashians, starring his famous (step) children.

    Once the world realised that his appearance was gradually changing: more feminine features, nail polish, longer hair the rumour mill started, the jokes started and in the end it was decided that Bruce Jenner could be just another figure for ridicule. It is media, and often human, nature to poke fun at those that are different. It is a defence mechanism we use to make sense of our world, but over the last twenty years the tabloid papers, aided by late night show comedians, have turned it into an acceptable way of dehumanising people they do not care for. The general public usually accepted these views and took them on board, until this week.

    Bruce’s coming out was a big issue in the trans community and gave a face to an often hidden part of society. But after all the attention stories and interviews do people now understand what it is like to be transgender? To not feel at home in your body, to never feel you can be yourself in public? To feel physical pain when you are addressed as “he” when in your mind and soul you feel it’s “she” or vise versa? For most people the answer is probably “no”, because this is the part of the story that got lost in all the chaos.

    The step Bruce Jenner took this week, his public coming out, is neither the beginning nor the ending of his journey. It is a halfway point. Being transgender is a lifelong journey that usually starts at a young age.

    Transgender children often realise they are different when they become aware of gender differences: the ways in which differ from girls in appearance, dress and expected behaviour. This causes upset and confusion in a gender dysphoric child as before, like any other child, it was not aware that this difference even existed. From this moment on the child suddenly becomes an outsider, it doesn’t fit in anymore and a lifetime of struggle begins. Imagine waking up day after day knowing you do not belong anywhere, you are neither a boy nor a girl and people do not understand you. Picture yourself suddenly waking up and finding you are a dog, you know you’re human but no-one else sees it, so they all treat you as someone you are not. How would that make you feel? Then imagine living like this for the rest of your life!! Not good, is it?

    Bruce Jenner spoke and it made a difference: It is now accepted that he wants to continue his life as a woman, something he feels he has been all his life. The media have slowly decided to accept him and slightly changed their tone after his interview, mainly because there has been an unprecedented outpouring of support from the general public.

    His honest interview has touched peoples hearts and created an understanding about his struggle.

    It also saw the birth of a very lovely wave of support via social media via the hashtag #PaintYourNailsForBruce. Via the hashtag male supporters of Bruce Jenner post pictures of themselves with painted nails.


    The fact that many of these men are “Straight manly men” makes it all even better.

    ”But,” you may think, “isn’t it accepted now? A few hormones, a new haircut and a few operations and it’s settled, right?” Wrong. Hormones and operations are but a tiny fraction of it all. There are friends and family who might not understand or support the feelings of the transgender. And even if they accept it, there is the inner psychology to be dealt with: self acceptance, the strength to take a long painful and lonely road. The courage to present yourself to the world, coming out day after day: at work, to new people you meet, making them see what you feel. Then there is the constant threat of violence: the rates of crime against transgender is very high according to transviolencetracker.org.

    Living with gender dysphoria is a constant battle, so it’s not surprising that the suicide rates in the transgender community are very high. At least 1 in 5 has tried suicide at-least once, while two out of three has had considered it at several points in life – even after transition.

    Thankfully we have reached a point where many parents are aware of the existence of gender dysphoria; they seek medical help and advice which means that few percent of the new trans generation can grow up as the gender they feel they are instead of the one they are forced to be. Still, this percent of happy trans teens growing up accepted and understood is still very low. This is such a shame, because if gender dysphoria is discovered early in life a trans youth can be prescribed puberty blockers, causing puberty to delay. This means the characteristics of gender are stalled (breasts, menstruation, Adams apple, hair growth etc.) This gives the child the chance to figure out what they want and if they are certain about wanting to undergo treatment to develop into the gender they feel they are. Once certain medication can be taken and the transformation can start.

    The older you get, the more difficult things can be, even more so if a person is only certain about their identity later in life. Which can happen.

    It is certain that the Bruce Jenner story has put a spotlight on the transgender community. Hopefully this will lead to more trans voices being heard and more acceptance and understanding in the future.

    Thank you for your bravery, Bruce.

     

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