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  • 2 days ago
The legacy of Billy Tipton, a 20th-century American jazz musician and trans icon, is brought to life by a diverse group | dG1fclhLWnBwSmk1dkU
Transcript
00:01He was a doting, loving, caring, ordinary father.
00:05Father?
00:06Father.
00:07He was their father.
00:10I'm auditioning for the role of Billy.
00:12I'm here for the role of Billy.
00:14Auditioning for Billy.
00:15This is Billy.
00:21How would I summarize the story of Billy Tipton?
00:24He was a trans-masculine jazz musician.
00:28When I encountered Billy Tipton, that was the first time I encountered trans-masculinity.
00:34Those of us in this generation, we are in a much different place than Billy Tipton.
00:38We are public in a way that so many trans people before us haven't been able to be.
00:42Trans people's survival through history was based on invisibility.
00:47It's scary when centuries of your survival have been based on not being seen.
00:54And you have no models.
00:56You have no history.
00:57It's like you never existed, but you know you must have.
00:59And then you see Billy Tipton and you think, people like me existed and they did things.
01:03They were jazz musicians.
01:04They'd be one of the greatest jazz musicians ever.
01:06So that you're looking for someone who exists like you so you're not alone.
01:11I'm Billy Tipton.
01:12My band is here for the...
01:14Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to be here.
01:16Well, the same to you, buddy.
01:17There's a whole history of media where you see people and you don't realize that they're trans and then something gives it away.
01:23And more often than not, it's the voice.
01:25My voice still squeaks.
01:26It keeps dropping so I can't get used to it.
01:28I'm still trying to make my voice sound deeper all the time.
01:32It's such a volatile and complicated thing to imagine that we know what people's gender is from looking at them.
01:39It's not a question about passing.
01:42It's a transition story about somebody who's unhappy about something in their life and they figure out the way to make themselves happy.
01:51Billy Tipton was so ahead of his years to be brave enough to hide in plain sight.
01:58He feels like he's the only person in the world who's like him.
02:01I've had that moment.
02:02So much of my not being seen as a small person has led me to this role of somebody who desperately wants to be seen.
02:12Lots of people in my community look to your dad as a kind of hero.
02:16It kind of blows me away that after all these years, anybody even remembers him.
02:21I thought I was like totally alone in this.
02:23Pass is what? Regular?
02:33I don't want to fucking be regular.

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