Ambiente Magazine has a cover story on actress, activist (and PFLAG spokeswoman) Calpernia Addams, the star of Transamerican Love Story and one of the country's most visible, and outspoken, transgender advocates.
Calpernia, who is also the cover girl for PFLAG's This Is Our Love Story campaign, talks to the magazine about growing up in the South... the much-publicized murder of PFC Barry Winchell, a soldier who was murdered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, while dating Calpernia... her blossoming music career... and her love for PFLAG.
"When I began searching for information as a teenager about why I 'felt this way,' one of the first groups I heard about that supported young people was PFLAG," she tells Ambiente. "The idea of someone's parents, and friends, supporting them openly when they were GLBT was a real mind-bender for me and, unfortunately, seemed completely alien to my own life of fear and judgment coming from my family. It was heartening to know that it was at least possible in other families, though. It gave me something to dream. All these years later, now that I am old enough to have a child of my own if I wanted," she says, "I see the progress that has been made by PFLAG in supporting families and friends who are supportive of the GLBT loved ones, especially kids, and I'm excited to be a part of that after all these years."
To read Stunning, the full interview with Calpernia, click here.
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6 Comments
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Yay for Calpurnia!
Alex Blaze | July 15, 2008 5:01 PM
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Thanks for sharing this interview with us, Steve!
Serena Freewomyn | July 15, 2008 5:32 PM
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If you're looking for a class act in the T community who's media savvy, classy, and attractive, you need look no further than Calpernia. I met her in 2000, before she moved to LA, and she was every inch a Southern lady, one who'd lost her love, but who had every intention of turning a negative into a positive. She was preparing to face the media then, and did so with grace. I really admire the confidence and poise she has, and I'm glad to see she's become successful on many levels.
Now, if our local cable system would lose the case of cranial rectosis it has and carry logo, we might be able to see her once in awhile......
Polar | July 16, 2008 3:11 AM
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I ♥ Calpurnia!
Bil Browning | July 16, 2008 11:12 AM
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I met Calpernia at the 2004 SCC. She was in the process of moving to California to begin her work trying to get more realistic portrayals of transpeople in Hollywood, and I had a wonderful conversation with her.
She's a class act and I'm looking forward to meeting her again.
Monica Roberts | July 16, 2008 1:48 PM
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Calpernia is quoted as saying: “For example, Caliente Cab Restaurant in New York kicked Khadijah Farmer, a ‘butch’ lesbian woman, out of the women’s restroom because they thought she was a transsexual." No, she was kicked out because they thought she was a man.
caprice bellefleur | July 20, 2008 11:49 AM
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