Name
Renee James
Pronouns
She, her
Identifies as
"Bi-gendered MtoF ( I live in both genders, was born male ) ."
Neighborhood
Wheeling, Ill.
Life's work:
"I'm working on the marketing launch of my first novel, Coming Out Can Be Murder. It's about a woman in transition who gets involved in a murder investigation and becomes the target of a man who likes to use, then kill, trans women."
Job
"I make my living as a freelance magazine writer. I had a long career in magazines, as an editor and later, as an owner … all in my male identity. I'm at a point in my life where I'd really like to write fictionfor a living."
Hobbies/interests
"I love dogs, grandkids, hiking, wilderness canoeing, hair dressing, reading, and hot baths on cold winter evenings."
When did you start questioning gender?
"I felt the first unmistakable tremors of the gender earthquake at age 18, as a college student. I buried the thought, but it kept resurfacing at long intervals as I progressed into adulthood. I didn't admit to gender variance, even to myself, until middle age and didn't deal with it until I was in my mid-fifties."
Do you have a coming-out story?
"I had been visiting transgender web sites on the computer my wife and I shared. One day, she looked at the history of site visits for some other reason, saw all the trans sites, and thought the cleaning people were messing with the computer. She was going to fire them, so I had to come clean. I didn't like the cleaning people, but you can't let someone get fired for your lie, right?"
What is the best thing about being trans/gender-variant?
"It makes everything harder, from interpersonal relationships to going to the bathroom. It's like going to warif you make it, it's the most intense chapter in your life. Of course, if you don't survive the experience, whatever else is good about being gender variant is somewhat academic."
What are the most important issues facing trans/gender-variant communities?
"We are chronically, pathetically unorganized. Almost all the progress in our civil rights has been derived from the largesse of the gay/lesbian coalition. We need to find a way to be less self-centered and more invested in advancing our own causesand supporting the work of the greater GLBT community."
To nominate a person for T in the life, email: Kate Sosin sosin@windycitytimes.com