It’s only April, but 2015 may be remembered as the year the term “transgender” fully entered mainstream consciousness. In January, President Obama condemned the persecution of “people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” becoming the first president to utter the word in a State of the Union address (cnn.com).
As defined by Webster’s Dictionary, transgender is the “denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender.” Being transgender is a broad term that includes transexual (pre-operative, non-operative or post-operative), non-gender, bi (tri and multi) gender, androgynes (possessing traits that are both masculine and feminine), etc. The state of being transgendered may or may not have any bearing on sexual preferences.
In the media, the awareness of transgender identity has been brought to the forefront with Bruce Jenner as its staple. His feminine appearance over the past few months has sparked the public’s interest on whether or not Jenner is making his transition into become a woman.
A 2011 study estimated that 700,000 American adults, or roughly 0.3% of the population, identified themselves as transgender.
For decades, trans people, as many transgender people like to be called, rarely saw themselves represented in popular culture. But recent years have brought “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Chaz Bono; filmmaker Lana Wachowski, formerly known as Larry Wachowski, a co-director of “The Matrix”; Jared Leto’s Oscar-winning role in “Dallas Buyers Club”; and of course, “Orange is the New Black,” whose cast is a mix of ethnicities and sexualities.
The May issue of Vogue has a photo spread with transgender model Andreja Pejic, who said on Instagram this week that she “was told by various people many times over that the chances of me ending up on these pages were slim to none.” A transgender character had a recurring storyline on the just-wrapped final season of “Glee,” while transgender activist and YouTube star Jazz Jennings will star in a reality show debuting on TLC this summer.
Between “Transparent” and other shows, recognition from Obama and tabloid headlines about Jenner, the national conversation around gender identity appears to have reached a new level. Is this for the better, or is being transgender just another topic of conversation for the moment?
For more information on the LGBT and the transgender community, visit the National Center for Transgender Equality’s (NCTE) website here.