Nancy Nangeroni is an American transgender activist, educator, and media pioneer who has played a leading role in advancing transgender rights and visibility since the early 1990s. A Boston native raised in Milton, Massachusetts, she began her journey of self-discovery and advocacy after a life-changing motorcycle accident at the age of 27. This event gave her the courage to come out to her family as a transgender woman, which marked the beginning of her lifelong dedication to the transgender community. In the early 1990s, Nangeroni founded the Boston chapter of The Transexual Menace, one of the first direct-action transgender rights groups in the United States. She also became known for her sharp commentary on anti-transgender violence in Boston-area media and for co-editing In Your Face: The Journal of Political Activism, a collection that reflected her passion for justice and visibility.
In 1995, she launched GenderTalk Radio, a groundbreaking talk show on WMBR in Cambridge, Massachusetts, focused on transgender issues, history, and activism. Co-hosted with academic and partner Gordene MacKenzie, the show aired weekly for over a decade and earned national recognition, including a GLAAD Media Award in 2000 for "Outstanding LGBT Radio."
That same year, Nangeroni helped organize one of the first national protests against anti-transgender violence in the wake of Brandon Teena’s murder, an event that brought together prominent activists such as Leslie Feinberg and Kate Bornstein. In 1998, she co-led the vigil for Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman murdered in Allston, Massachusetts, an event that would inspire the founding of the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). She continued to honor Hester’s legacy by documenting the media response and interviewing Hester’s family on GenderTalk.
Nangeroni also served as Executive Director of the International Foundation for Gender Education and was Chair of the Steering Committee of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, where she served for six years and was later named Chair Emeritus. From 2006 to 2008, she co-produced and co-hosted GenderVision, a cable TV program about gender identity and expression.
A trained electrical engineer, Nangeroni worked in the field until a spinal injury in 2004 ended that chapter of her career. She continued to focus on activism, education, and media work, becoming a leading voice for transgender equality and representation.
Monika: Hi Nancy! It’s such a pleasure to connect with you. Thank you for taking the time to join this conversation.
Nancy: Hi Monika, thanks for inviting me to join your many amazing interviewees! I'm honored to be part of this wonderful project you're creating.
Monika: You have dedicated many years to transgender advocacy. Looking back, what progress has been made so far, and what do you see as the key challenges facing transgender people in the USA today?
Nancy: When I began volunteer work for IFGE in 1990, there was little respect shown for people expressing or identifying with the “opposite” gender, and any critique of binary gender thinking was relegated to the radical fringe. Now, we have laws in hundreds of jurisdictions protecting people’s right to freedom of gender identity and expression. Most people in the USA now accept, if still resisting in some areas, the presence of transgender people in “respectable” society. We’ve forged a credible (some say leading) social movement that continues to grow. And we continue to win respect for people who don’t fit into pre-existing definitions, including definitions of what it is to be “transgender.”
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| Nancy getting ready to lead trans participation in Boston Pride 1997. |
As to current challenges for trans people in the USA, they’re the same as they’ve always been: communicating to family, friends, employers, and others the truths of our personal nature; finding a way to integrate our inner gender needs with our external situation; finding a partner and making a home. For those of lesser privilege, it can be a battle for survival; for others, thanks in part to the progress we’ve made, it is becoming more a matter of practice and style. It’s important to remember that transphobia is a global problem, and people suffer horrific persecution in some parts of the world just because of their gender. We need to remain vigilant and compassionate, always centering the voices of those most impacted by discrimination and violence.
Monika: One of your first collaborations with your partner, Gordene O. MacKenzie, was the music video In Memory of Rita, commemorating the candlelight vigil for Rita Hester, an event that inspired the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). How relevant and impactful is TDOR today?
Nancy: Until people no longer suffer violence for daring to openly live their true gender, the TDOR remains an important reminder of the worldwide hostility, violence, and murder that too many brothers, sisters, and genderqueers suffer every day. TDOR is about remembering and honoring victims and standing together in the community against gender-based hate.
Most trans folks want to see a positive representation of our community, and some were unhappy that TDOR was our community’s most visible event. So MTPC started organizing Trans Awareness Week each November. It’s grown and attracted so many great events that this year we’re helping coordinate a Trans Awareness Month to spread events out a bit so more people can participate in more events. This expansion reflects a growing desire to not only honor our losses but to also celebrate our resilience, visibility, and joy.
Monika: Between 2006 and 2008, you produced and hosted GenderVision, a cable television program designed for educational use. You also created Rally for Transgender Rights, a short film that was featured in the 2011 Boston Museum of Fine Arts GLBT Film Festival. Could you tell us more about your film projects and what inspired them?
Nancy: It was my life partner Gordene MacKenzie who got us into film. She loves using a camera, and I enjoy editing, so it was just natural for us to produce something together. For GenderVision, we spoke with community members about what they thought was most needed, and they were unanimous in agreeing that educational programs about trans people, rather than a show for trans people, were most needed. So we tried to produce programs that introduced non-trans people to our community. All 11 GenderVision programs, plus many extra segments, are available at GenderVision.org.
The Rally for Transgender Rights video just happened, Gordene grabbed some awesome footage from a Harvey Milk Day demonstration in favor of trans rights at the State House, an amazing event that we just had to share. Creating these projects together gave us a shared purpose and a creative outlet to support the community we love.
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GenderVision: Transgender Health Care. Source: YouTube. |
Nancy: GenderTalk was a labor of love that grew from my frustration with 1990s media and the preponderance of formulaic and sensationalist portrayals of trans people and our issues. I wanted to create a platform for speaking about ourselves as we see fit, not as some producers judged acceptably. I wanted to bring activist voices to the fore. Then, when Gordene joined the program in 1999, she brought an incredible depth of knowledge, appetite for research, and commitment to integrity that took the whole thing to the next level and brought us the most amazing guests.
From the beginning, I told the crew that it had to be fun, because that would be the only way we would keep doing it week after week. And so it was a great privilege and pleasure to do, and we got to speak with trans activists from around the world. You can still listen to over 400 of our programs at GenderTalk.com. Looking back, I’m proud of how we created space for voices that were often excluded or ignored by mainstream media.
Monika: Did you read Transgender Tapestry magazine regularly, and what did it mean to you personally and professionally?
Nancy: I first discovered the magazine back when it was called just Tapestry Magazine (I later pushed from within for the name change). It was the first publication I had read by, for, and about trans people and the community. Reading the words of older, braver trans pioneers helped me formulate, for the first time, a rational basis for self-respect, and even pride, in who I was. I read the magazine avidly for years and gave countless volunteer hours to IFGE. Then, as executive director, I made the magazine my highest priority, and we broke new ground in FTM inclusivity and international stories. But now, of course, the internet is the place to turn for news and information. Still, I believe Transgender Tapestry laid the groundwork for much of the online advocacy and storytelling we now see flourishing today.
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| At a recent Boston Pride. |
Monika: The transgender cause is often presented alongside the broader LGBT community. As the "T" is the last letter in this abbreviation, do you think the transgender community is able to effectively promote its own cause within the larger LGBT movement?
Nancy: Nobody succeeds socially in solitude, and the trans community benefits from associating with other communities. Life is about relationships, and the trans community makes progress only by building and maintaining healthy ones. That means advocating for our own needs while being mindful, supportive, and patient toward the needs of others. Many, if not most, GLB communities have been incredibly supportive of trans inclusion, and those who are resistant will either come around or be worked around. Given the amazing progress we’re enjoying, we’d best be as gracious as possible. At the same time, we must ensure that trans voices are clearly heard and our distinct needs are not overlooked in broader coalitions.
Monika: A few weeks ago, Jared Leto received his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the transgender character Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club. What are your thoughts on how transgender stories and characters have been portrayed in films, newspapers, or books so far?
Nancy: This too continues to improve. It’s great to see Leto honored for playing a (very conservative) trans character, especially after the shameful jokes made at Felicity Huffman’s expense at the Oscars in 2006, when she was nominated for her excellent portrayal of a (very conservative) trans woman in Transamerica. My favorite actress-activist these days is Laverne Cox, who plays a smart (non-conservative) trans character in a great show and is an absolutely brilliant advocate for our community. The visibility of authentic trans voices like hers helps shift public perception in a meaningful and lasting way.
Monika: When you began your transition, were there any transgender role models you looked up to or found guidance from?
Nancy: Initially, I was impressed with Tapestry editor and IFGE Executive Director Merissa Sherrill Lynn. Her writing was excellent, and I’ll never forget seeing her address a group of trans folk at the first EuroFantasia in 1993, writing on a blackboard, “People say you can’t change the world. THE HELL WE CAN’T!” I also found inspiration from Yvonne Cook-Riley and Holly Boswell’s wisdom around the pitfalls of binary thinking and medicalization, and Leslie Feinberg’s call for transgender liberation.
Meeting Chris Howey at Fantasia Fair convinced me that transition was possible for me, and I learned from countless others as I attended trans conventions around the U.S. and EuroFantasia. But I’m not a fan of role models; Laverne Cox is spot on when she uses the term “possibility model” to shift people’s thinking about available choices. Each person I met helped illuminate different paths forward, and their courage helped me recognize my own.
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GenderVision: Transgender in the Workplace. Source: YouTube. |
Nancy: Overcoming my own prejudices was the hardest. Back in the 1970s and 80s, I internalized the culture’s prejudice and felt that any male who acted like a woman was perverse. In other words, I hated that part of myself. I didn’t want to associate with such people, so I suffered alone. I felt like I had nothing to lose; I was an accident looking for a place to happen. After the inevitable fall, I figured that if I didn’t deal with my gender issues, I’d just fall again, so I began to take coming out seriously. From that point forward, it was much easier. Learning to accept myself for who I truly was became the key to living authentically.
END OF PART 1
All photos: courtesy of Nancy Nangeroni.
© 2014 - Monika Kowalska
