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Ashley Altadonna (born in 1979) is an American transgender filmmaker, musician, author and activist. Altadonna first started her career path as the lead singer and guitarist in her band, New Blind Nationals. Altadonna shifted her career focus towards filmmaking and went on to produce three feature films. [1]
Ashley Altadonna was born and raised in Houston, Texas, in 1979. In 2000 she moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she currently lives. She studied at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and graduated with Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2004. [2] Altadonna has been a proactive activist for the transgender community.
Prior to Altadonna's film making career she was a singer and guitarist for a band called New Blind Nationals. During this period, Altadonna had not started her transition. In 2004, the band split up and Altadonna switched her focus towards film making. [3] In 2014, after Altadonna's transition a new band had been formed, The Glacial Speed. She spent most of her time on her musicianship and work as a filmmaker. [3] Much of her music covers her transition as well as personal growth. [3]
One of Ashley Altadonna's goals in film making relates to trans activism. Specifically, she would like to educate individuals on the various challenges trans people face around the world. Altadonna had her own film production company formed in 2008 called Tall Lady Pictures, LLC. Altadonna has produced the following three short films: Making the Cut (2012), Whatever Suits You (2006), and Playing with Gender (2007). [4] Many of Altadonna's films have been screened at festivals in New York City, Seattle, and San Francisco, as well as in London, Berlin, and Melbourne. [2]
Altadonna began working on her first film, the documentary Making the Cut, in 2008. The film synopsis surrounds Altadonna's goal to raise enough money for her gender reassignment surgery. [1] The film explores and compares Altadonna's early life to her current life. Throughout the film she highlights the financial and social issues transgender individuals face and challenges social norms and ideologies on transgender people. In the film, Altadonna displays the many interviews she undergoes, and the many different fundraising activities she has been involved in during her activism for transgender rights. The reasons for these efforts, is for Altadonna to successfully raise $20,000 for her gender reassignment surgery as well as to fund this film, Making the Cut. [1] The main crowdfunding site that Ashley Altadonna used for her first film was Kickstarter, through which she had raised $6000 for her project by November 2012. [1] With this choice of crowdfunding, much of the participation comes from the demands of the audience rather than Altadonna, since the money is coming from fundraising. [1] This film's campaign is what created some of Altadonna's acknowledgement to the public. This led to Altadonna becoming such an activist for transgender individuals.
Altadonna has been a contributor to many online magazines, and has been featured in Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love & Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary. Most of her contributions cover her transgender identity experience. [5]
The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transgender individuals face discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and other areas of life.
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identity or alleviates gender dysphoria.
Gender-affirming surgery for male-to-female transgender women or transfeminine non-binary people describes a variety of surgical procedures that alter the body to provide physical traits more comfortable and affirming to an individual's gender identity and overall functioning.
Transgender rights in Iran are limited, with a narrow degree of official recognition of transgender identities by the government, but with trans individuals facing very high levels of discrimination, from the law, the state, and from the wider society.
Marci Lee Bowers is an American gynecologist and surgeon who specializes in gender-affirming surgeries. Bowers is viewed as an innovator in gender confirmation/affirmation surgery, and is the first transgender woman to perform such surgeries.
A transgender person is someone whose gender identity differs from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. Some transgender people who desire medical assistance to transition from one sex to another identify as transsexual. Transgender can function as an umbrella term; in addition to including binary trans men and trans women, it may also include people who are non-binary or genderqueer. Other definitions of transgender also include people who belong to a third gender, conceptualize transgender people as a third gender, or conflate the two concepts. The term may also include cross-dressers or drag kings and drag queens in some contexts. The term transgender does not have a universally accepted definition, including among researchers.
A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance to help them align their body with their identified sex or gender.
This article addresses the history of transgender people in the United States from prior to Western contact until the present. There are a few historical accounts of transgender people that have been present in the land now known as the United States at least since the early 1600s. Before Western contact, some Native American tribes had third gender people whose social roles varied from tribe to tribe. People dressing and living differently from the gender roles typical of their sex assigned at birth and contributing to various aspects of American history and culture have been documented from the 17th century to the present day. In the 20th and 21st centuries, advances in gender-affirming surgery as well as transgender activism have influenced transgender life and the popular perception of transgender people in the United States.
Transgender disenfranchisement is the prevention by bureaucratic, institutional and social barriers, of transgender individuals from voting or participating in other aspects of civic life. Transgender people may be disenfranchised if the sex indicated on their identification documents does not match their gender presentation, and they may be unable to update necessary identity documents because some governments require individuals to undergo sex reassignment surgery first, which many cannot afford, are not medical candidates for, or do not want.
Jazz Jennings is an American YouTube personality, spokesmodel, television personality, and LGBT rights activist. Jennings is one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender. Jennings received national attention in 2007 when an interview with Barbara Walters aired on 20/20, which led to other high-profile interviews and appearances. Christine Connelly, a member of the board of directors for the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth, stated, "She was the first young person who picked up the national spotlight, went on TV and was able to articulate her perspective and point of view with such innocence." Her parents noted that Jennings was clear on being female as soon as she could speak.
Two 4 One is a 2014 Canadian comedy-drama film that marks the debut of Victoria, British Columbia filmmaker Maureen Bradley. The film stars Gavin Crawford as Adam, a trans man who agrees to have a one-night stand with his ex-girlfriend Miriam during which he uses a mail order at-home pregnancy kit to artificially inseminate her with donated sperm. However, an accident during the encounter leaves both Adam and Miriam pregnant, forcing Adam, who has not yet completed the surgical phase of his gender transition, to confront the ways in which the pregnancy will influence his sense of gender identity.
Joanne Leung Wing-yan is the first openly transgender politician in Hong Kong.
Accounts of transgender people have been uncertainly identified going back to ancient times in cultures worldwide. The modern terms and meanings of transgender, gender, gender identity, and gender role only emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result, opinions vary on how to categorize historical accounts of gender-variant people and identities.
Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have varied significantly over time.
Detransition is the cessation or reversal of a transgender identification or of gender transition, temporarily or permanently, through social, legal, and/or medical means. The term is distinct from the concept of 'regret', and the decision may be based on a shift in gender identity, or other reasons, such as health concerns, social or economic pressure, discrimination, stigma, political beliefs, or religious beliefs.
The following is a timeline of transgender history. Transgender history dates back to the first recorded instances of transgender individuals in ancient civilizations. However, the word transgenderism did not exist until 1965 when coined by psychiatrist John F. Oliven of Columbia University in his 1965 reference work Sexual Hygiene and Pathology; the timeline includes events and personalities that may be viewed as transgender in the broadest sense, including third gender and other gender-variant behavior, including ancient or modern precursors from the historical record.
Bárbara "Soraya" Santiago Solla was a pioneer of the transgender community in Puerto Rico as well as the first person in Puerto Rico to change the gender designation on their birth certificate following gender reassignment surgery.
This article addresses the history of transgender people across the British Isles in the United Kingdom, the British colonies and the Kingdom of England until the present day. Transgender people were historically recognised in the UK by varying titles and cultural gender indicators, such as dress. People dressing and living differently from their sex assignment at birth and contributing to various aspects of British history and culture have been documented from the 14th century to the present day. In the 20th century, advances in medicine, social and biological sciences and transgender activism have influenced transgender life in the UK.
Cleopatra Kambugu Kentaro is a Ugandan transgender woman and human rights activist, advocating for equality and social justice with particular focus on sex workers and gender non-conforming communities. Kentaro is recognised for her advocacy and was featured in the 2016 award-winning feature-length documentary The Pearl of Africa.
Debbie Hayton is a British secondary school science teacher and political activist.