Jose Orozco
The Paw Print
In honor of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) History month, Monday night Oct.15, Adams State University Prizm Club premiered Trans the movie. This feature of the T in LGBT is a neutral movie on the topic of gender identity.
Trans is an umbrella term used to help define all the variant gender identities present in the world. It is important to understand the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation. This difference was made clear with the presentation of the Genderbread person following the movie.
The image was a ginger bread cookie person with a brain, the outline, a heart, and genitals. The brain represents gender identity, or who you are as a human being. The outline is the gender expression, or outward expression that others see. The genitals were the male/female symbol on the same ring along with a combination of the two. Sexual orientation represents the heart which is who you love, the romantic and sexual relationship attractions on the physical, spiritual, and emotional being.
Sexual orientation is again, much different from gender identity, expression, and sex. Where the later are identities, sexual orientation is strictly based on romantic and sexual relationships. Sexual orientation is what composes the majority of LGBT. Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual are a spectrum that helps identify the physical, spiritual, and emotional attraction between people.
The movie featured a simplistic insight of transgender individuals of differing age. One of the main characters was a transgender male to female surgeon, Dr. Christine McGinn. Christine was an all American sports boy in high school. She graduated and went into the Navy.
Christine was a part of two of NASA’s space expeditions. She was later discharged from the Navy after full transition surgery. She signed into the Navy as Chris McGinn and was discharged with the name of Christine McGinn. Her story was featured along with footage of her being able to father her and her wife’s children. Dr. Christine McGinn has her own clinic that is features transition surgery care, where after receiving her M. D. she now practices as the head surgeon in L. A., California. Her sensational story was also featured on the Opera show.
Another person featured in Trans was Danni a seven year-old girl that has a gender identity that is not aligned with her biological sex, or cis-gender. She was born in a boy’s body. This sweet little girl had no problem expressing herself as who she is.
As with most transgender youth, it is not the individual that transitions but those around them. More stories were told with a feature of Chloe, a transgender male to female who committed suicide.
This transgender experience really was an eye opener to the many outcomes and possibilities of human experience.
The discussion also featured a personal story from a member of the audience. This sharing was a gateway into allowing others to express themselves. The event ended with total empowerment of everyone who has ever questioned their identity, not just gender identity but also racial, ethnic, religious, and disability identities.
Please join Prizm again on Nove. 18 as they show the second premier of Trans the movie. This day will feature a candle light vigil as we celebrate Trans Day of Remembrance. This event will also coincide with multicultural events with features of the Two Spirit. Two Spirit is the Native American transgender identity.
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