IT CAN’T HAVE ESCAPED YOUR ATTENTION that we ’re living in the Great Media Transgender Revolution. While LGB representation often refers to “post-Ellen” (a reference to Ellen DeGeneres bringing gay issues centre stage), it seems that the “post-Caitlyn” movement is in full swing, and the media is learning a new vocabulary.
That’s what makes transgender media from before the past couple of years so tantalising. Sparse references range from the good: Transamerica, Corrie’s Hayley Cropper, Boys Don’t Cry and Orlando, to the offensive: Ace Ventura, and the downright odd: David Duchovny as Denise in Twin Peaks.
Scottish poet Jackie Kay’s only novel, Trumpet, was recently — and deservedly — republished as a Picador Classic. A good decade ahead of its time, the book is a sensitive and intriguing examination of gender identity. Very loosely based on the life, and death, of jazz pianist Billy Tipton, Trumpet tells the story of musician Joss Moody, who — after his death — is revealed to have been born female. Like Moody, it was only discovered after his death that real-life Tipton had female genitalia. In less able hands, the story could have been sensationalist. As it is, Kay deftly sidesteps histrionic, soap-opera “reveals” by opening the novel in the middle of the media storm surrounding Moody’s death, and then escaping it. Trumpet, vitally, isn’t a novel about being trans. In fact, it’s clear that Moody’s gender is one of the least interesting elements of his life.