Thread by @rachelcrowl

Watched @Disclosure_Doc on @netflix tonight and... wow. First off, y'all should watch it. For reals. WATCH IT. @Lavernecox and everyone else brings so much truth to this. Thank you so much for making this.

And yeah... it brought up all kinds of complicated shit for me. /1

Like, I'm old enough to have seen so many of the shows they present. I remember Flip Wilson when I was little and I wondered. And I watched everything I could find about trans folk - we didn't call us that then - and so many of these representations remind me... /2

They remind me of how alone and scared I was. And when I got old enough to start exploring my shit, I saw Paris Is Burning and I thought... I want that. I want that! /3

And yeah, I already knew the world was gonna see me as a freak and an outlier. I was acting at that point Off-Broadway playing all these manly man roles and then slipping off into the Manhattan night to go play with gender. /4

That's why I moved to NYC, y'all! That was a place I could maybe find myself? But at some point when I knew I was going to transition I just didn't see myself getting to be an actor anymore. Like... that was impossible. No one would take me seriously. /5

So I spent 12 years off doing other things - good things! - and it was only when I saw @candiscayne on Dirty Sexy Money that I thought, "Wait... trans women are doing the thing!" And then I thought, "Good. I wish I could do that too." /6

And then, "Nah, Hollywood would never take me seriously." So I just went back to my day job and didn't really allow myself to dream. This was while @Lavernecox was killing it on Orange Is The New Black! /7

Thank god, the world decided differently and I was cast in @evethemovie16 and I had my acting career back. And I am deeply indebted to all of my trans forebears who did the thing and put their head down and found the work. /8

It's sort of cliche to say I stand on the shoulders of giants but fuck it. It's true. And now I have the opportunity to go do the thing I was put on earth to do: act. And I'm so fucking grateful. /9

So, yeah, @Disclosure_Doc you did the thing. It's amazing and I'm so glad it exists. Thank you for this.

Seriously. WATCH THIS FILM.

/10