Documentary series Trans in Trumpland debuts Thursday
The docu-series Trans in Trumpland is coming soon to Topic.com and Topic channels through Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android, iOS, and Amazon Prime Video.
The four-part documentary series – which debuts on February 25 – examines the struggles and resiliency of the transgender community under the Trump administration. Intersectional issues such as race, immigration, and poverty are also examined.
The trans-owned production company TransWave Films created the series. Tony Zosherafatain is the director with Jamie DiNicola as the producer. Trace Lysette (Hustlers, Transparent) executive produces alongside trans activists Miss Major Griffin-Gracy and Chella Man, as well as Topic’s Ryan Chanatry and Jeff Seelbach.
Each episode of the series focuses on a different trans person who is living in Trumpland: states where they face transphobic laws as well as discrimination and violence. Director Zosherafatain travels across the country, shedding light on the trans experience in America while coming to terms with his own experience as a trans man.
The series’ subjects run the intersectional gamut – from 13-year-old Ash in North Carolina, home to the infamously discriminatory “bathroom ban,” disallowing trans people from using the bathroom of their true gender, to Shane from Idaho, a Native American Army veteran who speaks out against the Trump administration’s trans military ban.
As one of his first official acts, President Joe Biden overturned the trans military ban.
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Below we have episode descriptions with background information on the trans persons who are the focus of each episode.
Episode One: North Carolina – Ash
As we uncover Tony’s personal story, we meet Ash, a young transgender boy living in rural North Carolina. Ash brings us behind the national news headlines to show us what it is really like to be a trans youth in North Carolina — a state that is notorious for its anti-trans bathroom laws and school policies.
Episode Two: Texas – Rebecca
In Texas, Rebecca, a trans-Latinx immigrant from Mexico, battles a deeply transphobic immigration system to gain asylum in the United States. Detained three times by ICE, Rebecca is resilient and maintains a close relationship with her family.
Episode Three: Mississippi – Evonne
In Mississippi, we meet Evonne, a Black trans woman who runs the state’s only transgender non-profit, which provides vital care to Mississippi’s violently neglected LGBTQ community.
Episode Four: Idaho – Shane
In Idaho, we meet Shane Ortega, America’s first openly transgender soldier, who uses his Native American heritage to point us toward a brighter future.
