This coming weekend will see two important trans*-related events in Chicago—and the genesis of these happenings is pretty intriguing.
Early in 2012, Chicago resident Jen Richards launched WeHappyTrans.com as a way of countering the unfavorable depictions of trans-people in the media through the reinforcement of a more positive message of the trans experience.
In the fall of that year, Richards saw a post on the Facebook page of Antonia D'orsay, the executive director of This is H.O.W., a Phoenix, Ariz.-based organization dedicated to the betterment of the lives of trans people.
"Toni had been estranged from her son," Richards said. "When he got in touch with her, he said 'you seem to be kind of famous among trans people.' Toni joked 'Yeah, if there was a top 100, I'd be 99.'" D'orsay wondered who else might be on the list and asked people to comment on her Facebook page."I saw it, threw in a couple of names and went to bed." Richards said.
But she couldn't sleep. Richards thought about what 100 trans names on a list could mean to the community— an open celebration of trans people of all races, backgrounds and ages engaged in advocacy by keeping the lights on at a small community trans-support group or blogging to raise awareness of trans issues or actively engaged as career athletes, musicians, actors, writers, lawyers, doctors and many more occupations. Richards and D'orsay started messaging each other. Richards even woke up her web collaborator on WeHappyTrans."We collectively decided it could be a really cool thing," Richards said. "Within a few hours, we had created a Trans 100 nomination form and launched the website."
In just 48 hours, D'orsay and Richards received 200 nominations. By the time the process closed, the numbers had ballooned to 500. To coincide with the International Day of Trans Visibility, the first names on the Trans 100 were announced March 31, 2013, at Mayne Stage in an event that Richards said was created and run from the bottom up for trans people by trans people.
Last year's list included Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, Kylar Broadus, Jennifer Finney Boylan and Monica Roberts. The event was sold out before D'orsay and Richards had even begun to actively advertise it. "When we first started, people said 'you're not going to find 100 trans people out and doing advocacy work'," Richards said with a smile. "But we barely skimmed the surface."
Nominations for the 2014 Trans 100 list opened last November. By the time they were closed Jan. 15, Richards said there were over 600 entries. Richards—who co-directs the Trans 100—has been joined by an entire team of people engaged in preparations for a weekend of trans-related celebration activities that begins on March 28 and culminates with the announcement of the 2014 Trans 100 list on March 30.
That team is a multifaceted and multitalented cross-country representation of the trans community that includes D'orsay as codirector; songwriter, artist, actor and activist Angelica Ross serving as co-producer and host; celebrated artist and educator Rebecca Kling as production manager; Lambda Legal Community Educator Crispin Carmona as volunteer coordinator; and the Center on Halsted's Precious Davis managing tickets and VIP coordination. The Trans 100 also has received invaluable support from organizations such as Chicago House—acting as a fiscal agent enabling the Trans 100
to accept donations—GLAAD and This is H.O.W.
Meanwhile, Richards said a group of 25 curators has been painstakingly researching the nominees, voting in a series of rounds in order to determine who will make the list. According to the Trans 100 website, nominees "have to be making a difference in the day to day lives of trans people in a tangible way. That means that whatever it is they are doing, it has to be significantly related to changing things for the better in practical ways for trans people.
Richards added that she wanted the list to be representative of the community, "so we make sure that we show as wide a range as possible of age, gender expression and identity, race, geography and area of work," she said.
However, Richards said she wants the community to be aware that the Trans 100 is not a competition of any kind. "It's not a top 100 list, it's not a best-of list or a popularity contest," she stated emphatically. "It's a sampling
of the kind of work we've done in our community. It's meant to give you a sense of the diversity and range of the people in our community and the kind of projects they've undertaken."
Also important to Richards was to create at least a six-month distance between this event and the Trans Day of Remembrance. "We need that day, but it's just as important to celebrate those who are alive now," she said.
The Trans 100 has grown to an entire weekend of celebration that includes the work of one of 2013's featured speakers. Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler is an award-winning filmmaker, visual artist and scholar. As a response to challenges
the trans community faces such as unemployment, homelessness and discrimination, Ziegler founded Trans*H4CK. The organization has hosted Hackathon events in Oakland, Calif., and Las Vegas, where programmers, coders and others can create trans-related Webbased projects such as apps and websites. The goal, according to the Trans*H4CK website, is to "develop new and useful open source tech products that benefit the trans and gender non-conforming communities."
Trans*H4CK will run March 28-30 at Dev- Bootcamp, 351 W. Hubbard St., and is open to people of all gender identities interested in creating Web or mobile apps for the transgender community, including developers, artists, designers, entrepreneurs, activists and community members. Game critic Mattie Brice will be on hand for a March 29 fireside chat with participants.
"People can come with ideas or a desire to participate and break into teams according to the kind of projects that you want to do," Richards explained. "All the projects will be presented and Trans*H4CK will award winners." The grand-prize winner's project will be featured during the Trans 100 event March 30 at Mayne Stage—a one-of-a-kind gala that will include keynote speeches by actress/advocate Laverne Cox and athlete/advocate/Project I Am Enough founder Kye Allums as well as performances by rapper Kaycee Ortiz and a Chicago showgirls revue that host Ross is putting together. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the event will run 7-9 p.m.
As there is a limited number of seats, principally, tickets to the free evening are offered by invitation only to both last year's and the 2014 Trans 100 alongside any and all members of the trans community. Cisgender people are also welcome to remaining tickets. Richards added that the event will streamed online at gigity.tv/event/26151/ .
"We are demonstrating the capacity and passion of transgender people," Richards said. "We're a living example of the breadth, diversity, range, skill and incredible passion, dedication, hard work and love that is so abundant in our community." Richards said she hopes the visible success stories of the Trans 100 will counter the shame and self-hatred so many trans people feel, particularly when they are living stealth lives. "We are encouraged by society to be separate and against each other," she said. "It tells us we are not worthy and we should be ashamed and disappear. If all you know is what you see on television, you will have a very dim view of trans people."
The Trans 100 has already had an impact that has been starkly illustrated through the emails that fill Richards' inbox. They are from trans people who were living stealth lives and now feel safe to emerge from the shadows. "They want to be visible and to be part of the trans-community," she said. "There was a person of a particular race and gender on last year's list. That person received a communication from someone of the same race and gender who said that they had been suicidal and that, when they saw the list and saw that there was someone like them who was succeeding, it gave them hope to keep going."
For more information, visit www.thetrans100.com or connect on Facebook and Twitter. For more information on Trans*H4CK, visit www.transhack.org or connect with Trans*H4CK on Twitter.
