Monika: While transgender visibility is increasing, the “restroom wars” continue to rage, and violence against transgender women remains a deadly reality. How do you see this contradiction playing out in today’s political climate?
Claire-Renee: Republicans will always feel the need to put their hands, and patriarchy, where they don’t belong. They claim to support small government, but they want to decide who uses which bathroom, who can have a baby, who has access to birth control, how women dress in Congress, and even what is or isn’t considered rape. That seems like big government to me. This contradiction highlights how controlling bodies and identities remains a key tool for oppressive politics.
Monika: Who do you think is driving the “restroom war” rhetoric, and what impact does that have on transgender people, especially youth?
Claire-Renee: The restroom war is being waged by the Christian right and national anti-LGBTQ hate groups like The Family Research Council and The American Family Association. Locally, we have Child Protection League Action, which has lobbied against a transgender toolkit issued by the Minnesota Department of Education and opposes the anti-bullying bill passed a few years back. These organizations, despite having words like “Family” or “Child Protection” in their names, actually advocate discrimination and bullying of LGBTQ youth in public schools. Their harmful influence creates real fear and danger for transgender people.
Monika: What do you think about the actual safety concerns people claim justify such legislation? Who is truly at risk in public restrooms?
Claire-Renee: Who should be afraid of whom in the bathroom? More state and federal legislators, as well as priests, have been arrested in public restrooms than trans people. When will we see legislation keeping Republicans and conservative Christian groups out of the restrooms instead? This irony reveals how much the supposed “safety” argument is really about fear and control, not actual protection.
Monika: The transgender cause is often grouped together with the broader LGBTQ community. Do you feel the transgender community is able to effectively promote its own unique issues within this larger group?
Claire-Renee: No, I’m a big proponent of ‘drop the T and let us be.’ People who are transgender face a series of unique challenges that the rest of the alphabet soup does not share. Issues like housing insecurity, unemployment, high suicide attempt rates, health care access, and safe spaces disproportionately affect us. Sometimes, even the lesbian and gay communities have thrown us under the bus or used us as bargaining chips to get what they need, which has set the trans community back by about twenty years. This division makes it hard for us to get the focused attention we deserve.
Monika: How do you think the transgender community should move forward to address these distinct challenges?
Claire-Renee: The greater part of the LGBTQ+ community centers on sexual orientation, while our needs stem from biology and the misalignment of gender and sex. I believe we need to organize as a separate community, breaking off from the rest of the alphabet. This would allow us to move forward without carrying the baggage and stigma that parts of the LG community have unfortunately placed on our backs. Only then can we fully advocate for ourselves and our specific needs.
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| "Who should be afraid of whom in the bathroom?" |
Monika:
How do you feel about the way transgender people are portrayed in films, literature, and the news? Are there any depictions that resonate with you, or do they mostly fall short?
Claire-Renee:
I really haven’t seen any positive portrayals of trans people in any media. You may have a breakout character like in Sense8, but overall, Hollywood still has cishet males playing trans women, and anytime there’s news about a trans person, it’s usually because they were murdered.
Monika:
Have you been personally involved in advocating for legislative change? What role do you think transgender women can play in shaping public policy?
Claire-Renee:
Yes, as I mentioned above, I participated at the city level by testifying at some controversial hearings. However, I also wrote the Minnesota version of the “Trans Panic” law that they have in California. With the help of a local organization, we lobbied the bill-to-be and had quite a few legislators on board. Unfortunately, it never hit the floor because we had (and still have) a Republican House, so it never saw the light of day. Once our state’s DFL regains control of the House and Senate, I plan to reintroduce it.
I also have a bill written called The Respect After Death Act that met the same fate.
Monika:
Looking ahead, do you think we’ll ever witness a groundbreaking moment like a transgender woman becoming President, or maybe even the First Lady?
Claire-Renee:
No and nope. We can’t even use the bathroom without cisgender people having an epic tantrum. But the good news is that there are so many trans women running for local and national offices that our future in politics is getting brighter.
Monika:
Your style sounds amazing, how would you describe your personal fashion sense, and how has it evolved over time?
Claire-Renee:
I love, love, love fashion, but then again, I always have, even before transitioning. What I’m wearing really defines who I am. However, since I’m from Minnesota, the land of 10,000 solid colors, my color choices tend to lean toward dark tones with white accents, lots of stripes and polka dots, a fair amount of dystopian wear, and, as more than one person has said, “punker girl meets glam.” I’ve learned to use fashion not just as self-expression but as a form of empowerment.
Monika:
What are some of your favorite fashion brands or go-to pieces, and how do you navigate the fashion world as a trans woman?
Claire-Renee:
I’m importing a lot of my clothes from overseas because I can’t find the styles I want here, but I own quite a bit of Moschino, Rag & Bone, Lip Service, Tripp, INC, ANGVNS, Heavy Red, and Manibee. My accessories are Betsey Johnson. Agashi is my go-to for harnesses, and if I’m feeling fun or overly Minneapolis-y, a cute outfit from Forever 21 always puts me in a good mood. I love black tights with a skater skirt, that combo always seems to get the boys’ attention.
Fashion for trans and queer folks can be tough because we don’t usually fit into the binary clothes created by designers, so for the last six months, I’ve been researching the cost of designing and manufacturing my own fashion line called 404Girl™, aimed specifically toward us fashion-forward queers. One day, I hope it becomes more than just a dream.
Monika:
Some people argue that just as contraceptive pills helped liberate cisgender women, cosmetic surgery has helped free transgender women from the pressure to “pass.” Do you think surgical advancements have truly set trans women free from those constraints?
Claire-Renee:
“According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, transgender people are four times as likely to have a household income under $10,000 and twice as likely to be unemployed as the typical person in the U.S.” – The Williams Institute.
Based on these numbers, very few trans folks are even able to afford FFS, let alone GCS, so it’s difficult to be liberated when you don’t have the funds to liberate yourself.
Economic barriers often make cosmetic liberation a privilege, not a widespread reality.
Monika:
Do you think true liberation comes from within, or does society still place too much emphasis on how we look?
Claire-Renee:
I think liberation comes in accepting yourself for who you are; sadly, you could point to me as a hypocrite, since I’ve had multiple surgeries and possess passing privilege, so it’s a difficult question to answer.
Everyone is a prisoner of something, whether it's societal judgment, internal doubt, or external limitations.
At the end of the day, it’s the freedom to define ourselves that we’re all really fighting for.
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| Being glamorous. |
Monika:
What are your thoughts on transgender beauty pageants? Do you think they empower women, or do they reinforce outdated norms?
Claire-
Renee:
Overall, I intensely dislike beauty pageants. There is something overtly patriarchal about a bunch of male judges actually judging women based on their looks, talents, and intelligence, and then parading them around as “winners” to our rape culture.
Pageants simply uphold an impossibly high standard of beauty created by the media and also present women as nothing more than a pretty face to be bought and sold by the corporate advertising machine.
Monika:
Many transgender women choose to share their life stories through memoirs. Have you considered writing one of your own?
Claire-Renee:
I’ve started a book several times, but the direction of it never seems to head where I want it to go. It’s a work in progress, and now I’m leaning more toward a fictional story based on my life but embellished to the point where the reader won't know whether what they're reading is fact or fiction, when, in reality, it will be both.
I would want the reader to think, “Did that really happen?”
Monika:
Let’s talk about something more intimate. What role has love played in your life journey?
Claire-Renee:
This is a difficult question to answer because I have never had parental support, and as a result, I have a difficult time making connections, friendship, romantic, long-term, with other people.
My parents haven’t spoken to me for the greater part of 20 years, so never having that attachment has thrown a wrench in my ability to create, make, or even sustain loving relationships.
Monika:
Are there any exciting projects you're currently working on or dreaming up?
Claire-Renee:
New projects, or my never-ending creativity, seem to be my kryptonite because I’m constantly coming up with new ideas. Besides continuing to work toward a media platform geared toward the trans community, as I mentioned earlier, I’m in the sourcing phase of a clothing line and I’m looking at starting my MBA.
All of this while working full time and being a mom to my three wonderful kids.
Monika:
What advice would you give to young transgender women dealing with gender dysphoria?
Claire-Renee:
Reach out for help because you are not alone. I realize that seems like a cliché, and when you are suffering from dysphoria, everything seems dark, useless, and a pointless dead end; I think the whole ‘It Gets Better’ project doesn’t really relate to the trans community because it glosses over our unique needs and focuses more on the LG community.
That said, resources like the Trans Lifeline have actually saved lives by being staffed by trans folks who understand what you are going through and can identify with our lived experiences; sometimes reaching out is the hardest thing to do, but as I’ve said before, “maybe we are the lucky ones for being trans.”
Monika:
My pen friend Gina Grahame once said our dreams shouldn’t end on an operating table, that’s where they begin. Do you think transgender people should allow themselves to dream bigger?
Claire-Renee:
I don’t think anyone should ever deliberately limit their potential based on how they were born. The only thing I can do is compare my current self to my past self and decide if what I am today is what I want or where I want to go, and honestly, it is.
I know this sounds redundant, but we all have the potential to be what we want to be; however, some of that can be limited by privilege. Sure, I’m transgender, but I’m also white and passable, and that gives me a huge upper hand in life. I was successful in my pre-transition self, and I’m successful in my post-transition life, but I’ll never forget that I’m one of the lucky ones. When it comes to your dreams, go big or go home. It’s your life, live it.
Monika:
Claire-Renee, thank you so much for sharing your voice and insights with me today!
Claire-Renee:
Thanks, Monika, for taking the time to interview me!!
All the photos: courtesy of Claire-Renee Kohner.
© 2017 - Monika Kowalska
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