Let’s face it: being transgender in 2024 is tough. Waking up and hearing that gender-affirming care for minors is banned in yet another state isn’t exactly fun. For me personally, the slew of negative news has been devastating. But it hasn’t all been bad! Transgender trailblazers are still proving they have the right to exist, from the Olympics to the silver screen.

The Olympics have been a heated topic this year, from drag performances to “transvestigations” of a few Olympians, which are obsessive inspections of one’s designated sex. On the other hand, though, there have been some amazing trailblazers. One example is Nikki Hiltz. They came out with an Instagram post on National Trans Day of Visibility in 2021. In said post, Hiltz describes their fluid relationship with gender, the fear of coming out, and their commitment to visibility:

“It’s complicated and complex and something I’m still trying to navigate myself, but I’ve decided it’s time to share my gender fluidity with you all. Posting this is both exciting and terrifying but I am and always will be a firm believer that vulnerability and visibility are essential in creating social change and acceptance. So here I am, once again, coming out of a closet to be my true authentic self.”

Hiltz then went on to be the first non-binary transgender person to compete in an Olympic track and field final, finishing seventh in the Women’s 1500-meter final.

Similarly, there have been advancements made at the Paralympics. Like the Olympics, the Paralympics are held at the same four year intervals. Instead, though, the Paralympics feature athletes with disabilities. One such athlete is Valentina Petrillo. She began transitioning in 2019, something that she has described as a bit of a trade-off. While she has found joy in her personal life, she has seen drawbacks in her athletic career. In an interview with the BBC in 2021, Petrillo summed up her experience with one succinct statement, “Better to be a slow happy woman than a fast unhappy man.”

Petrillo has since been the first trans woman to compete in the Paralympics, participating in the 2024 Summer Paralympics T12 women’s 400 meters and T12 women’s 200 meters events. She qualified for the semifinals of both events, but did not make it to either final. She continues to pursue her athletic career while having her story featured in a movie.

Now onto the silver screen. Richard Gadd’s miniseries “Baby Reindeer,” has received critical acclaim, including 11 Primetime Emmy Award nominations. One of these nominations was for Nava Mau, being best supporting actress in a limited series. Mau shared an emotional moment regarding the nomination with Laverne Cox, fellow trailblazer for trans people everywhere, on the red carpet. She goes on to describe how this nomination makes her feel in an instagram post on July 17:

“I haven’t stopped crying all day. I am humbled and so thrilled for everyone nominated. One day I will catch up to this reality. For now, thank you to the @televisionacad for this incredible honor. I’m at a loss for words, THANK YOU.”

She did not win the Primetime Emmy Award, but even the nomination is a groundbreaking step for transgender representation in media, specifically film.

More on film, the Netflix documentary “Will & Harper” was released on September 27th. The film focuses on Will Ferrell and Harper Steele, two long-term friends since their work on “Saturday Night Live” in the 90s. Steele came out to her closest friends, like Ferrell, in 2022 as a trans woman. Steele was met with acceptance and eventually went on a road trip with Ferrell, prompting the creation of the documentary. In an interview with CBS discussing the documentary before its release, Steele warned that people may not want to follow in her footsteps with a similar road trip:

“Trans people, for sure, have to be careful. There’s people out there that are filled with hate. And, not necessarily, it’s gonna be aimed at me; it’s gonna be aimed at people who don’t have the kind of advantages I have. And so, I’m not abdicating everyone run out in the middle of the country and run around, because I swear to God, we have some people out there that are not good people.”

On the other hand, though, Steele found that there was much more nuance to the people they met than what meets the eye. She found acceptance in spaces she wouldn’t have expected, and said to CBS “It was a lot of people being nice to us, all across the country.”