Between the collapse of the economy, California's same-sex marriage flip-flops and Obama's election, it took a pregnant man to capture mainstream press' attention. But while media outlets around the globe carried that trans story, most of the year's transgender highlights received short shrift. Here's some of what they missed:
Books
Last year, Haworth Press established itself as the publisher of trans-related nonfiction. In 2008, the press delivered Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery and Head Over Heeels: Wives Who Stay With Cross-Dressers and Transsexuals. Financially crippled, the company was acquired by Taylor & Francis, which may or may not continue publishing transgender titles.
Two controversial memoirs—Thomas Beatie's Labor of Love: The Story of One Man's Extraordinary Pregnancy and Savannah Knoop's Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT Leroy—overshadowed less contentious, but equally important Intersex: ( for lack of better word ) by Thea Hillman and Scott Turner Schofield's Two Truths and a Lie.
Other notable releases included the global anthology Trans People in Love, Susan Stryker's Transgender History and 10,000 Dresses, a fabulous children's book by Marcus Ewert about a boy who dreams of wearing dresses.
Film
Trans actor Joshua Bastion Cole starred in Joie Rey Cohen's short film, Gender; Jules Rosskam's experimental documentary, Against a Trans Narrative; and Trannywood's erotic film, Cubbyholes: Trans Men In Action, ( nominated for a 2008 GAYVN Award ) . But he wasn't in Morty Diamond's docu-porn, Trans Entities: The Nasty Love of Papi' and Wil.
Trans women were subjects of Girl Inside ( about a trans woman's bond with her grandmother ) ; Catwalk '08, ( documenting the first high fashion trans modeling pageant ) ; and film fest fave: She's a Boy I Knew ( a self-biography of filmmaker Gwen Haworth ) .
The award-winning Two Spirits examined the life and death of Fred Martinez, a Navajo teen murdered for being a nadlee—someone with both masculine and feminine traits.
Media coverage
While trans kids continued to be a delicacy for daytime talk-show hosts, at least Atlantic Monthly and National Public Radio provided fair and compassionate coverage of gender-variant youth and their issues.
Out magazine covered the trans community in a special issue that was edited by trans author T Cooper, who also became Out's newest columnist. The LGBT syndicate QueerCents also brought on a new trans writer, launching the column, "Our Money is as Good as Your Money," by Ashley Wilson. Positively Aware magazine examined the high rates of HIV infection in the trans community. In other news, Los Angeles Times' sportswriter Mike Penner quietly returned to work under his masculine persona, eight months after coming out as Christine Daniels.
Music
Trans-fronted The Cliks started 2008 off with their Complicated video as LOGO's first number-one of the year. Then they won a Nexty Award; appeared on MTV's TRL rejoined Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour; and later toured Germany and South Africa.
Trans pop star Joshua Klipp's L1FE remix made it onto a Billboard music chart and the video for Tell Me The … reached LOGO's Top 10 Click List. Baby Dee's fourth album, Safe Inside the Day, was lauded by Britain's The Daily Telegraph as "the most remarkable record of the year so far."
Coyote Grace—trans musician Joe Stevens and partner Ingrid Elizabeth—played with the Indigo Girls, toured with Melissa Ferrick and produced a live album. Other new albums include jazz bassist Jennifer Leitham's Left Coast Story and gender-bending model/actress Jeffree Star's Cupcakes Taste Like Violence EP.
Performances
A plethora of trans playwrights premiered theater pieces, including Scott Turner Schofield's sold-out Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps, Tobias K. Davis' Standards of Care and PoMo Freakshow's ( FTM-to-femme Sassafrass Lowrey and hir trans partner Kestryl Cael ) Traitors without ( T ) reason, exploring the betrayal, invisibility, and loss "inextricably" linked to passing.
In its second year, trans comedian Ian Harvie's self-titled comedy cabaret featured a hefty LGBT line-up, including luminaries Leslie Jordan, Alec Mapa, Ant, Margaret Cho and Calpernia Addams.
Politics/law
A record number of trans delegates, alternates and standing committee members attended the 2008 Democratic National Convention. Although most trans politicians—including Presidential hopeful Ben "Bennie Lee" Ferguson—lost their bids, transgender Stu Rasmussen won his mayor's seat in the small town of Silverton, Ore.
In a potentially far-reaching decision, U.S. District Judge James Robinson ruled that the Library of Congress violated Diane Schroer's rights after they rescinded a job offer upon learning she was trans. Meanwhile, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund settled a lawsuit with Caliente Cab Restaurant, which tossed a masculine-appearing woman out of its establishment when she attempted to use the women's restroom.
Detroit and Kansas City, Mo., banned discrimination against trans people while New York State adopted the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act ( GENDA ) .
In sadder news, this year's Transgender Day of Remembrance marked the 10th anniversary of Rita Hester's still-unsolved murder. The stabbing death of this Boston activist sparked the creation of the now international annual memorial. This year the event also honored Lawrence King, a 14-year-old Oxnard, Calif., student who wore make-up and feminine clothing and was shot to death by middle school classmate.
Television
The 2008-09 prime-time TV season offered two reoccurring trans characters played by Ugly Betty's Rebecca Romijn and real-life trans entertainer Candis Cayne on the now-canceled Dirty Sexy Money. Other real-life trans women appeared on America's Next Top Model ( 22-year-old contestant Isis King ) and LOGO's reality-dating show TransAmerican Love Story ( openly trans actress Calpernia Addams and her best friend and business partner, Andrea James ) .
After nine years of producing and hosting GenderTalk radio, transwomen Nancy Nangeroni and Gordene MacKenzie switched to creating GenderVision video programs like Trans Partner: Gender & Relationship, which featured Helen Boyd and her husband Betty Crow.
In 2008, trans author Jacob Anderson-Minshall co-authored the Blind Faith mystery, began co-hosting the Gender Blender radio show on KBOO-FM and helped launch Portland, Ore.'s, monthly LGBTQ literary series, QLiterati!