by Alex Taks ****
Caitlyn Jenner famously came out as transgender in 2015. This was shocking for many and a huge step forward for the transgender community – or was it?
Jenner isn’t exactly role model for the transgender community in any sense. Her experience is quite unique.
She had immediate access to Hormone Replacement Therapy and gender affirming surgeries, a luxury many of us trans folks can only dream of.
When speaking to TIME Magazine on how she presents herself Jenner says, “if you look like a man in a dress, it makes people uncomfortable.” This is problematic because not every transgender person has the resources to medically transition or wants to.
Jenner perpetuates these harmful misconceptions about being transgender by insinuating you must medically transition in order to make people comfortable.
Butere are five transgender people who represent the community more than Caitlyn Jenner.
Sam Collins
Sam Collins is an American YouTuber from Boston. He most popularly makes commentary videos, many of which include transgender-related topics while others are on pop culture topics.
Collins has a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor, making him likeable within a wide range of audiences and evidenced by his 628K subscribers.
Elliot Fletcher
Elliot Fletcher is a 24-year-old American actor from Los Angeles. He is best known for his roles on the TV shows “Faking It,” “Shameless” and “The Fosters.”
Fletcher uses his social media platforms to help raise money for other transgender people to get gender-affirming surgeries.
“I’m so tired of cis people playing trans characters — I’m gonna do it,” he told them. in an interview,
With transgender represenation on TV lacking, he serves a very important role for the community.
Kye Allums
Kye Allums was the first openly transgender college athlete to play on an NCAA Division I team – coming out as transgender in 2010 when he played on the George Washington University women’s basketball team.
Unlike Jenner, Allums believes there “is no right or wrong way to be trans,” he told Time Magazine.
Currently Allums travels around to different schools and speaks about being a transgender athlete.
Jazz Jennings
Jazz Jennings is most well known for her hit TLC show, “I am Jazz,” which premiered in 2015 when she was only 15.
The show documented her life as a young transgender woman and tackled important issues as it showed her real-life journey.
She is a co-founder of TransKids Purple Rainbow Foundation, which raises money and awareness for transgender and gender non-conforming youth.
Today Jazz is an advocate for transgender rights and hosts her own YouTube series.
Laverne Cox
Laverne Cox is an American actress and an activist for the LGBTQ+ community.
She rose to fame when she starred as a transgender woman in “Orange Is The New Black.” Cox became the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy for this role.
Cox also produced a documentary called, “The T Word,” showing the lives of seven young transgender people. The documentary won her a Daytime Emmy Award.
CougarBuzz 