Trans in Trumpland is a new four-part docuseries directed by Tony Zosherafatain about trans people living in red states during Donald Trump s presidency, told through a road trip across parts of America, specifically Idaho, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Texas.
“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,” the film’s website states.
Zosherafatain started developing the idea for the docuseries as soon as Trump took office in 2017. “It started the very first day that Trump took office. I remember I felt like I had nightmares constantly. I couldn’t sleep,” he says. “I’m trans and I’m Iranian-American, so double minority. And so that very first week he removed any
A particularly poignant moment in new docuseries
Trans in Trumpland (★★★☆☆) comes during its first episode. Daisy, a mother in rural North Carolina, recounts trying to source hormones for her transgender son, Ash, and repeatedly running into roadblocks. Even with a doctor’s prescription, insurance could deny coverage, or a pharmacy could simply refuse to actually dispense the drugs necessary for her son’s gender dysphoria. After hours on the phone trying to convince someone to release the drugs, Daisy finally breaks and declares that Ash is at serious risk of suicide should he not receive treatment. That primal plea for help, from a mother desperately trying to protect her child, provokes the necessary response: Ash’s drugs are finally sent only to arrive with his deadname on the label.
(Topic, 3:01 a.m., complete first season):
Trans In Trumpland is a powerful docuseries with a total runtime of under two hours. Filmmaker Tony Zosherafatain takes a road trip across four states in the U.S. that have transphobic laws North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, and Idaho to converse with four transgender people of different ages and races as they cope with or fight against the anti-trans policies implemented by the Trump’s administration. Zosherafatain, who is a trans man himself, gets to tell his own story over the course of four episodes as he meets members of the community to unpack the intersectional issues they face, whether it’s related to race, immigration, poverty.
This Trans Latina Shares How Trump Presidency Impacted Her Life in New Docuseries
This Trans Latina Shares How Trump Presidency Impacted Her Life in New Docuseries
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Rebecca, a trans Latina originally from Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, can’t imagine what her life would be like today if she and her mother hadn’t left Mexico for the United States when she was 10 years old. She’s not even sure she would be alive.
“The hate crime for trans women in Mexico is very, very high,” Rebecca says at the start of her episode in the four-part docuseries
Trans in Trumpland. “If we would have stayed back in Mexico, I wouldn’t be who I am and maybe wouldn’t even be in this world.”