'If Keith Richards was a tranny that got together with Merle Haggard, I'd be their love child,' declares trans rock ingénue Shawna Virago. 'Only a lot better-looking.'
Dubbed 'the sex symbol laureate' of trans rock, Virago is far more than a pretty face. The singer-songwriter is also an activist, writer, filmmaker and actress.
As a filmmaker, Virago's black-and-white shorts include Hustle, Shut Up, Josephine! and Almost Human. Now working on her fourth film, Virago says, 'I have a very DIY aesthetic and—just like my songwriting—I prioritize content above all else.'
Having starred in several underground movies, Virago is adamant: 'Hollywood could never portray a trans woman like myself, or like most of the trans people I know—hence, the importance of festivals like Tranny Fest.'
Every November, the Transgender/Transgenre Film Festival, or Tranny Fest ( www.trannyfest.com ) , offers screenings, performances and visual arts by and for transgender and genderqueer people. When founders Al Austin and Christopher Lee retired recently from the world's first transgender film festival, Virago took over. She says this year's Tranny Fest will be smart, sexy, and naughty, 'just like it always is.'
As an activist, Virago served on San Francisco's Transgender Human Rights Task Force, co-chaired the Transgender Political Caucus and co-founded TransAction, an organization that aims to expose and end police violence against the transgender community. And, she was the first trans woman to serve on the board of San Francisco Woman Against Rape.
'Trans women also deal with misogyny and sexism … and all the other fucked-up shit women have to face. Over the years, I've heard lamenting by queer women about trans men 'leaving' the community, which I can understand. But I'd also like to see women celebrating the inclusion of trans women into the community.'
As the director of the domestic violence program at San Francisco's Community United Against Violence, she furthered that organization's efforts to end violence against ( and within ) LGBT communities.
Leaving her activism to focus on music, Virago explains, 'Performing my songs is my activism now. I'm one of the first out trans women to perform under her own terms. I still find stepping onstage a deeply political act. You can hear my politics in my lyrics.'
The singer-songwriter sees herself as 'part of a troubadour tradition that prizes words as much as 'melody.'' Virago performs solo and with The Deadly Nightshades, and says, 'I've been told that my songs are like a sonic lap dance.'
Currently focused on recording a solo album, Virago says, 'The album will be my political anthems and love-gone-awry laments. I'll have both fucked-up crunchy guitar and ... a lot of clean tones.'
Virago also admits there's a little country tempering her rock roots, and she'll bring both influences to the studio by 'channeling my muses—Keith Richards and Merle Haggard.'
'My songs intersect somewhere between country and rock music, from Hank Williams to Lou Reed,' according to Virago. 'That's where I'm most at home as a musician: the search for the elusive right words melded to a bittersweet melody, [ and ] writing a song that hits the g-spot between the ears, sometimes the crotch—that's what drives me as a musician.'
The album of songs about life on the 'sweet continuum' of being trans, comes out this fall and then she'll be on the road, touring.
A trans woman who transitioned in the early '90s, Virago says she's witnessed the transgender community change in unbelievable ways.
'When I started performing, just getting onstage as an out trans woman was a risky proposition. Non-trans folk felt empowered to hurl whatever stupid comment they could at you.'
'I told them to fuck off,' Virago divulges. 'And other creative rejoinders.'
Now, Virago says, the trans music scene provides opportunities for trans and gender queer musicians to write and perform for supportive audiences.
'I think it's important we as trans people keep coming out and carving out our own culture. Our struggles have a long way to go.'
Contact Virago at houseofvirago@hotmail.com .
Blind Curves, the first Blind Eye mystery co-authored by trans writer Jacob Anderson-Minshall, is available at www.bellabooks.com .
© 2007 Jacob Anderson-Minshall
