Member-only story
The Trans People You’ll Never Know
And why they keep themselves hidden from you
We’re five years out from what Time magazine deemed the “transgender tipping point,” and in some ways, the world has fundamentally changed.
In the past five years, thousands of us have come out as trans or nonbinary and started living more authentic lives (myself included). There are far more out trans actors, musicians, writers, and performers than there ever have been before. Some of those out trans performers (particularly the white, thin ones) are getting celebrated for their bravery and beauty, getting high-profile acting roles and magazine covers.
Today, our existence is acknowledged (and milked for revenue) in commercials, toy lines, and TV shows. We are the subject of countless workplace diversity trainings and national political debates. In progressive cities all around the world, earnest cis people are having conversations about putting their pronouns in their email signatures and making bathrooms gender neutral for the sake of our safety.
Trans people used to be considered so rare that people acted as if we didn’t exist. But in the last five years, the number of trans-identified people has doubled, to roughly one in every 200 people. That makes being trans-identified more common than knowing how to code. If you’re reading…
