TransGeneration
| TransGeneration | |
|---|---|
 Back:: Director Jeremy Simmons, Producer Thairin Smothers, Gabbie. Front: TJ, Lucas, Raci | |
| Created by | Jeremy Simmons and Thairin Smothers |
| Starring | Andrea Gabrielle Gibson Raci Ignacio Lucas Cheadle Trent Jackson Jourian |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 Minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Sundance Channel |
| Release | September 20 – November 8, 2005 |
TransGeneration is an eight episode documentary film depicting the lives of four transgender college students as they attempt to balance college, their social lives, and their current transitions to a new sex. Unlike many other shows about transgender people, TransGeneration attempts to create a more accurate view, focusing less on the medical side of the experience and more on the people as real human beings.
TransGeneration is shown on the LGBT television network LOGO, broadcasted weekly on the Sundance Channel from September to November of 2005, and released as a featured film at some festivals and independant theatres.
Major characters
- Andrea Gabrielle Gibson aka Gabbie, born Andrew, is a male to female college student at the University of Colorado where she majors in computer science. Gabbie has struggled with her identity since high school. She began taking hormones and living as a woman during her freshman year in college. Energetic and upbeat, she is a resident assistant on campus, receiving special accommodation by getting a single room with her own bathroom, becoming actively involved in campus-based GLBT activities, all the while highly anticipating her upcoming sexual reassignment surgery, for which her parents have agreed to pay.
- Raci Ignacio, born Roy, is a male to female college student at California State University on a merit-based scholarship. Born in the Philippines, she moved to the United States at the age of fifteen and is struggling with a hearing impairment, speaking English as a second language, and being away from her mother for the first time. Her transsexuality is less noticeable than the other main characters, so she trys to fit in as a normal girl and is reluctant to reveal her secret.
- Lucas Cheadle, born Leah, is a female to male transsexual at the all-female Smith College in Massachusetts. His best friend is also a female to male transsexual and has been undergoing hormone therapy for several months. Now in his senior year as a neuroscience major, Lucas is beginning to feel that it is time to start the physical side of his transition as well, by taking testosterone injections. While his mother and brother are supportive, he is afraid to tell his father, who had divorced and moved away since Lucas was nine.
- Trent Jackson Jourian (aka TJ), born Tamar, is a female to male transsexual at Michigan State University. He is a graduate student from Cyprus on a Fulbright Scholarship, currently pursuing a degree in Student Affairs Administration. Outgoing and invovled, he has openly expressed his male identity since he was a young child and is very active in the transgender community on campus. Unlike the others, however, TJ has no support from his family over his transition. As he plans to visit home over the summer break, he realizes that he must confront his family for the final time, and may never be able to return home again.