Hi Kids! Please get the most recent issue of “The Advocate” magazine, in which they gather a number of people from the GLBT community and talk about body image accompanied by gorgeous naked photos by celebrated photographer Eric Schwabel. This is probably one of the most intimate and personal interviews I’ve done since the “Soldier’s Girl” days, but I felt like the topic of body image is an important one. These issues have driven the course of my life, as they do for so many, and we all felt it was important to discuss them.

The Advocate Issue 1015: The Naked Truth, with Calpernia Addams: http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid59850.asp (Interview, video and photos)

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I helped save a downed Chinese airliner on a remote Alaskan island! Well, 15 years ago I did, ha ha. It’s been 15 years, almost to the month, so I’m sure I’m not remembering every detail correctly… feel free to point out any mistakes if you happened to be there, ha ha. Early morning on April 6th, 1993, when I was still a field combat medic in the Navy and living on a remote Alaskan island (yes, really!), a Chinese airliner encountered some kind of severe turbulence and had to land on the even more remote Alaskan island of Shemya. I was on duty in the emergency room that night, and volunteered to fly the quick hop over to Shemya and start processing the wounded.

This a notice from Congress for us! Click to read the full Congressional Record!

Look at photos of Adak, then and now!

Click READ MORE below to read more, and see more pix and maps!

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Are you a "Professional Transsexual" cashing in on the trans community?

When people ask this question about me or my business, it generally makes me mad, because the term “cashing in” directly implies a cold, mercenary grab for money at the expense of higher values. It’s never used in a nice or appreciative sense outside of discussing literal bank transactions. But I suppose it’s good to respond if people are really asking this question out of legitimate curiosity. Here’s my general response to people who might feel like I am personally cashing in on being trans, cashing in on the community, or cashing in on being a trans activist.



There’s very little “cash” involved in being out as trans. If anything, I feel that I’ve succeeded in making a (modest) living in spite of being open about my transition, rather than my success being enhanced by being out. I taste the bitter fruits of being out with disheartening regularity each time I lose another job or boyfriend. I’ve worked hard under unsympathetic circumstances, I’m proud of the work I’ve done, and I think it stands up admirably next to most anything anyone I know has ever done.

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Yes, despite what you’ve been told, there is such a thing as a bad question! I’ve been in the public eye for more than a decade, and get asked shockingly inappropriate personal questions all the time. Most of them could be answered easily in the questioner’s own mind by thinking about it for around one second. What they’re usually really asking is, Do you know that I am judging you? And the answer to that is yes. This list may seem a little… angry, perhaps. But after so very many years, I would gamble to say that few people would handle these things as diplomatically as I try to do. If you’ve never asked me (or another person who has gone through transition) these questions, sit back and enjoy the list. If you have, don’t worry about it too much now, just think about it more next time. I am a Southerner through-and-through, so if you query me in person as to whether I minded that time you asked one of these questions, I will probably say, “No! Of course not!”, but I really did. I really, really did. Here are the ones I hate being asked the most, and in the spirit of the old MAD Magazine "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions", here are some responses to them: 

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* OMG, I got my first “honors” on YouTube! My “Calpernia Dating?” Video Blog entry is currently the 7th and 44th most linked! Wow!

* Well. Where to begin…
* First of all, we didn’t win any Globes. “Soldier’s Girl” was up for three: Best Picture (TV), Best Actor (TV) and Best Supporting Actor (TV). But that’s ok… being nominated will show filmmakers that they can produce quality, realistic transgender stories and be rewarded for it in Hollywood. “Angels in America” was great, and if we had had their budget, I’m sure we’d have given them a run for their money.
* But first things first: When the car came `round to pick me up at 1pm, I was still in the shower. I had spent the morning racing around to find a slip and completely wasted two hours of valuable time, so I ended up making the chauffer wait for an hour in our driveway while I did my hair and makeup and got dressed. I didn’t feel too bad though, because he would be waiting in a driveway all day long anyway, while I was inside the Beverly Hilton hotel. I had a terrible time choosing what to wear… I had a gorgeous black dress from Patty, two dresses I had made (a white lace scoop-back and a lavender mermaid gown with cape), plus a deep pink Lilli Rubin gown positively dripping with sequins.  I can never decide until the very last minute, and as I stood there in my undies looking the choices over, I decided on… NONE OF THEM! I ran into the deep-storage closet and pulled out another hand-made gown instead: my leopard-print corset-gown with a small train and fitted, extra-cropped bolero jacket. It was a little exotic looking, a little retro-looking, but it fit like a dream and was very Jessica Rabbit. I was surpised that it zipped right up (I’m not the tiny waif I was when I made it a few years ago!)

* So I hopped into the car and we zipped out to the hotel just in time to make the 2:30 Champagne Brunch. Remembering what a mess getting into the Emmys was, I expected long delays, but I think a combination of coming early and just good organization got us right in on time. There were very few people there, so I whisked right in. I had heard earlier in the week that there was a big shortage of tickets to the Golden Globes in Hollwood, and that some agents and other Hollywood players were paying up to $20,000 for a ticket. On the ride over I looked at the ticket in my hand and thought “Mmm… $20,000...” But no! I would not miss this night for any reason. And anyway, nobody offered me $20,000 for the ticket in the first place. Mmm… $20,000...

* There were numerous velvet-rope mazes to negotiate, with masses of regular people behind them ready with cameras of all types. Paparazzi and media people were inside the ropes with me, and I got a few looks because I was so tall and strikingly dressed, but no one took my picture. Which was fine by me!
* I made my way into the gorgeous main room and saw the stage all set up with a very elegant design. Our table was right in the center line, only about three tables away from the stage! Right behind us was the teleprompter screen, so everyone on stage had to pretty much stare directly at me for the whole show! AND guess who was sitting at the Showtime table in front of us? Barbra Striesand! Like 5 feet away from me! And guess who was sitting three feet away on my right? Jennifer Garner! Ok, let me just go ahead and say this now… I saw in person most every movie and television star you can think of!
* I sat right next to Jane (Fonda), with Troy on her right, and Ron Nyswaner (the writer) on my left. Lee was right next to him. Frank was across from me. It was great! Eventually everyone got there and we all sat down and started on our delicious meal.
* I had had my first taste of Champagne 25 days ago on New Year’s Eve, which I didn’t like, so I decided I would have another half-glass just to see what really nice Champagne tasted like. It was good! I only drank about half of the half glass, though. The dinner started with an Asian salad with sushi, and then a delish steak for the main course. There were coffee cups on the table, but we never got dessert or coffee! =( boo hoo, poor me, I know, ha ha…
* Jane and I got to catch up, and everyone was excited and talking. We pretty much knew we weren’t going to win against "Angels in America," but I was just glad that we had come this far. I think that the nominations for SG will encourage other people to be brave and make films about the community that are similarly realistic and non-exploitative. It was great fun seeing the cast of Sex and the City squeeze past our table, Ellen Degeneres fidgeting across the aisle (I got to shake her hand later), Catherin Zeta Jones flitting up and down the stairs next to our table, Christina Ricci running by in her lovely gown, Charlize Theron walking by, Nicholas Cage looking intense on his way to his seat, Scarlett Johannsen picking up the hem of her nude corset gown to make it down the steps, and on and on and on…

* The show ran smoothly and quickly…
* Click here for

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