Calendars and Trans Representations

Good news! The 2015 Trans Calendar Project has reached its third consecutive year of funding via Indiegogo. This means that trans people all across North America get to once again write the narratives for their own stories, which believe it or not, is pretty rare for this community. With trans people constantly being spoken for, it’s incredible to find an outlet that actually allows for our authentic portrayals. Speaking of stories, here’s mine.

My name is Jamie DiNicola, and I am a self-identified transman who graduated from Rutgers this past May. Although I am now an alumni (that just sounds weird) of Rutgers, this university has become a place that I look upon with fondness and belonging. Not because Rutgers is super trans inclusive, it’s really not, but because of what I learned about myself while I was here. I entered Rutgers a very confused, very unhappy girl, and I left, albeit still a bit confused, a happy, confident, and I venture to say, brave man. I would love to paint the picture that shows all trans narratives this way but the truth is, I’m one of the lucky ones. I come from a supportive family that welcomed me, their new son and brother, with open hearts and minds and I was lucky enough to cultivate a community for myself by cofounding Rutgers’ first transgender organization, Trans*missions, in the summer of 2013.

Through the tireless work that myself and other campus activists put in, Trans*missions was able to sponsor and unanimously pass the Preferred Name for Trans Identifying Students bill through the Rutgers Student Assembly in the Spring 2014 semester. Students at Rutgers are now able to use their preferred name on university databases instead of having to use their legal names.

Although I have graduated, the activist skills that I have learned while at Rutgers has helped me to move onto other exciting activist projects like the Trans Calendar Project and the queer social networking site that I have began working on, JustQueers.com. The activist work that my organization and I accomplished has positively affected the lives of many; however, many transgender lives don’t follow this trajectory and many trans stories don’t abide by the ever present modern mantra “it gets better” because no, for many of us, it really does not.

But amongst all of this struggle and pain the trans community has started to create something and we have started to demand visibility. Through tireless work, the trans community is just now beginning to be recognized. The Trans Calendar Project is an activist project that really has no other agenda than to promote the visibility and beauty of trans lives, granting trans folks the right to dictate their own representations.

The Trans Calendar Project is run entirely by self-identified trans folks. The models for the project are all trans identified. And these models are photographed by trans artists who would like to portray trans people in the most authentic light. All of the profits from the calendar sales go directly back to the trans models to help support their transition-related expenses. And yes, there are a lot of those. I have spent over $10,000 transitioning. Hormones, surgery, wardrobe change, name change expenses, official document changes, etc. It all costs a tremendous amount of money, which is why trans people face an uphill battle when it comes to attempting to make ends meet.

The Trans Calendar Project is a huge deal and just the fact that it exists is a revolutionary act. Supporting the project not only means that you care about this community, but it also means that you are able to see how authentic representations are an integral part of community building. This transcends the trans community and is true for every community fighting for basic human rights. We all deserve to be seen, we all deserve to live by the mantra “it gets better” because it should, for all of us.