Talking "Trans" with Buck Angel

E12 | Forbidden Conversations

My guest on this episode of Forbidden Conversations is Buck Angel, a motivational speaker, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and human rights activist. He is also someone who identifies as a transexual—a female who lives as a man. Born female in 1962, he never felt female and struggled with his identity until he had the opportunity to transition later in life at age 28 when it was still a very new phenomenon.

A major component of Buck’s message is about self-acceptance and he has sparked many conversations, making appearances on HBO, National Geographic, Netflix, The Tyra Banks Show, Dan Savage, Howard Stern, Much Music, and many others. He’s also been written about in Forbes, Esquire, VICE, BuzzFeed, The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, New York Times, and others.

And now, on this podcast.

Regardless on where you sit on the trans debate, I hope that you can watch this episode with an open mind and I suspect that it may challenge some of your views. One of the things that I really respect about Buck is how open he is and how important it was for him to ensure that I wasn’t tip-toeing around anything during our conversation. In fact, that’s what tends to keep us apart rather than bringing us together.

My intention with this episode was to provide a nuanced perspective and representation. Too often, we are exposed to the most extreme examples within the “community,” whereas the truth is that there is no such thing. Trans people are individuals and have a diversity of opinions/views.

I hope you listen to our conversation with an open mind. If nothing else, I made a new friend. Please follow Buck on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

FORBIDDEN CONVERSATIONS is a series that takes on topics that don't always get attention or are more challenging to tackle and seeks to address them through civil discourse and nuanced exploration. To view all episodes so far, visit here. Please subscribe, like and comment. You know, all the YouTube things. Want to listen only? Find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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Who am I? I’m a writer with an overactive imagination and a random mind. Outside of Substack, you’ll find my work in publications such as Newsweek, WIRED, Variety, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Esquire, Playboy, Mashable, CNN Travel, The Independent, and many others.