Bruce Jenner became the latest high profile person to come out as being a transgender person and has graced the cover of Vanity Fair magazine with glamorous photo . The gold medal winning Olympian had represented Team USA at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. He became the poster boy for athleticism and masculinity. Such was his popularity after his world record breaking win the General Mills cereal company put his image on their Wheaties breakfast cereal box which, for American sports men and women, was a sign that they had “made it”.
In recent months we have seen British boxing promoter Kellie Maloney transition to a female, Laverne Cox has graced the cover of Time magazine and Chaz Bono has cha-cha-cha-ed on Dancing With The Stars.
2015 may well be the year of the transgender person!
So, I thought I would investigate these brave and remarkable people and compose a list of transgender people who are influencing the world today in the most positive way.
She is currently the world’s only transgender billionaire and is listed by Forbes to be worth an estimated $1.7 billion (1.6€ billion).
Viewed as an innovator in the field of transgender surgery, as well as a pioneer, being the first trans woman to be performing the surgery.
AKA Rocco Kayiatos, is an American hip-hop rapper and producer and is widely credited as the first openly transgender singer in the hip-hop genre.
A Polish politician. Elected to the Sejm in the 2011 as a candidate for the left-liberal Palikot’s Movement and she became the first transgender politician in Poland, a country whose current political climate doesn’t support LGBT rights.
She originally competed on Vh1’s I Wanna Work For Diddy, making her the first African-American transgender woman to be on a mainstream reality TV series. She currently stars in the Netflix hit TV series Orange is the New Black and also works as an LGBT activist.
She is one half of the sibling pairing “The Wachowskis” who found fame as the creative force behind The Matrix movie trilogy. They have continued to make big budget films such as Cloud Atlas.
He is an active member of the UK trans activist organisation Press for Change. Currently, Whittle is Professor of Equalities Law in the School of Law at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Born in Hawaii, Janet Mock is an American writer, transgender rights activist, author and the former staff editor of People magazine’s website. Her “coming-of-age” memoir has become a best seller.
A former college basketball player at George Washington University is now a transgender advocate, public speaker, artist, and mentor to LGBT youth.
Adult film maker with his own production company. He currently works as an LGBT advocate, educator, lecturer and writer.
Do you agree? Who would be in your top 10? Leave a comment.
Feast of Fun
Where’s Kate Bornstein? She’s the trans auntie to many of these folks.
loseitberlin
Thanks for the tip, guys. Can you recommend any weblinks for my readers?
Keep up the good work. I am a long time subscriber!