Nashville Cats!

Transgender actress and activist Jen Richards is on the road to Nashville!

Richards (Her Story) has joined the country music drama in a recurring role for season five, it was announced Tuesday.

She will play Allyson Del Lago, a tough but understanding physical therapist who helps one of the series' main characters through one of their most difficult challenges. Richards' casting marks the first transgender character on CMT and the first out transgender actor on the network. 

CMT, along with Hulu, resurrected Nashville in June one month after it was canceled by ABC after four seasons.

Richards recently nabbed an Emmy nomination for co-creating, writing and producing the digital series Her Story. She also starred in the Los Angeles-set romantic as Violet, a trans woman who must confront her attraction to women when she meets a cute reporter named Allie (co-creator Laura Zak) while also worrying that her attraction to women makes her less trans. 

"Richards also appeared as herself on the E! docuseries I Am Cait, which centered on Caitlyn Jenner's post-transition journey. Although I Am Cait was axed last month after two seasons, transgender TV has continued to prove popular. Transparent, which centers on a man's transition to a woman, has won Emmy and Golden Globe awards for star Jeffrey Tambor. Laverne Cox, best known for her breakout role on Orange Is the New Black, will next headline Fox's Rocky Horror Picture Show remake in October, before making history as the first full-time transgender character on a broadcast television with CBS' Doubt. Richards also is slated to appear on the midseason legal drama, in addition to co-producing the forthcoming docuseries More Than T.

In addition, Richards is an activist and advocate who works with national organizations and media projects.

Nashville's fifth season premieres Thursday, Jan. 5, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CMT."

Go here for more.

Transparent Wins!

For all of you who disagree somehow on the Laverne Cox's, Janet Mock's and Carmen Carerra's of the transgender women's world, being strong role models of the trans community- because of how attractive they are, here you go: 

Transparent, an Amazon original drama about a family struggling with its father’s admission that he is transgender, won this year’s Golden Globe award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.

Jeffrey Tambor, (above) best known for his roles in There’s Something About Mary, Entourage, and the Hangover movies, stars as Maura Pfefferman in the show, and accepted the award alongside fellow Transparent cast and crew. 

I don't think you can necessarily make the argument either, a transgender actor should have been involved with the role (rather than Tambor) precisely because of the "passing privilege"  he doesn't possess. I saw one of his appearances on a talk show and they showed a clip from "Transparent" coming back from a break. Predictably, I heard a smattering of laughter-until Tambor started to talk about the show and the audience became completely silent.  Nothing funny about this topic. What the hell? How can this be? He doesn't look like a woman????

I'm sure though in the greater transgender community, someone will find something wrong.

Trans Visible Again?

Lately it seems, I'm increasingly writing about transgender women breaking the gender barrier and becoming more and more visible. The fact that several of the most visible right now are transgender women of color. Women such as Laverne Cox and Janet Mock are truly "out and proud" - but after listening to Laverne I learned life is still not as easy for her as most of us would think. As her Mom told her-her hands and feet were too big for a woman's-even though now she has her Mom's full support.

Now Best-selling author and transgender activist Janet Mock (left) has been named a special correspondent on in Entertainment Tonight. In her first appearance she delved into the issue of cisgender (nontrans) actors playing trans roles and a host of other topics in an interview with Transparent star Jeffrey Tambor. (More here.)  

Certainly, I am thrilled every time I see a positive transgender story and now even more thrilled when a trans person is actually involved in the process. (rare) I know the only persons who can truly understand my mtf gender transition are those friends of mine who are going through it too.

I do wonder how all of this "plays at home." I remember years ago when the transgender term was rare at best and most cross dressing images were characters up to "no good."  When my wife and I were watching one of these shows, the cross dressed character became the "elephant in the room." I did my best to not be too excited.  

I also wonder if this rush of transgender education and publicity helps those of you (in a relationship) considering playing in the girl's sandbox.  For women like me, I can only hope my friends and acquaintances think, "Hey! There is a person like Cyrsti!" 

2015 The Trans Central Year?

2014 brought many positive changes to the transgender community, fortunately too numerous to mention. For the first time we saw trans women (Laverne Cox and Jazz) making it into most influential woman categories.  All of a sudden, the mere act of being born female with a vagina does not equate with the essence of becoming a woman. At the least, a very scary thought for many traditional binary thinkers.  Making the process even more difficult for those folks is it's looking like even more are in store for the future!


Here is one from the "Hollywood Reporter" : 
"ABC Family is continuing its push into the unscripted arena with a big swing.

The Disney-owned cable network has handed out a straight-to-series pickup for My Transparent Life, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The docuseries, from Ryan Seacrest Productions, centers on a teen named Ben who learns his parents are not only getting a divorce, but also that his father is becoming a woman.

The series will intimately follow Ben, his family and friends as they support each other through the unexpected journey and watch Charlie slowly become Carly, as she experiences the many stages of her transition from male to female. The show is described as a generational story of a loving family and circle of friends, supporting each other through the unfamiliar and unexpected situation."

Of course all of this is following the success of the Amazon series Transparent with Jeffrey Tambor (left).  For a start, I love the fact Tambor loves the part and is in many ways a truer portrayal of how most of us are able to visually transition. After all, we all can't look like Carmen Carerra, Janet Mock or Andreja Pejic. The best is yet to come!

"Trans" is the New What?

Before all the trans nazi's and trans terfs start to tear this show apart too, allow me to be a bit euphoric.  It's getting good reviews and I think it is important to realize that not all of us are fortunate enough to go through a dramatic MtF gender transition without the basic body structure to easily do it.

Plus, of course I will be ready for the usual comments about transitioning so much later in life!  

Here's the "scoop":from Amazon.com.

An LA family with serious boundary issues have their past and future unravel when a dramatic admission causes everyone's secrets to spill out. Starring Jeffrey Tambor, Judith Light, Amy Landecker, Jay Duplass, and Gaby Hoffmann.