Amy Bartner

IndyStar

For the first time in nearly an hour of answering deeply personal questions without hesitation, Andrea James doesn't know how to respond.

She has spent the past 53 minutes on the phone from Los Angeles, passionately talking about her life, her work, her accomplishments in film, advertising, writing and transgender activism.

Comedy is first and foremost in James' life. Her social media handles all are variations of the name "jokestress," and she makes it known — more than once — that she's "impossible to offend" and has a "filthy" mind.

The 49-year-old grew up in Franklin and earned degrees from Wabash College and the University of Chicago. She worked in marketing at the Chicago Tribune for a few years before heading to prestigious advertising firm DDB Chicago. There she spent a decade writing a number of well-known commercials, including the popular Bud Light pool-playing chicken that aired during Super Bowl XXXII. That also is where, at 30, she transitioned.

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Five years later James moved to L.A. to start her own transgender movie production company and has acted or appeared in a number of shows and movies. Last year, an episode of USA Network's "Royal Pains" with a transgender storyline that James consulted on won a GLAAD Media Award.

James isn't an involuntary activist for transgender equality. She knew that if she wanted to succeed with her work in the mainstream, she would have to put herself squarely at the forefront of the movement to create greater acceptance, "making very pro-trans statements at a time when they’re needed most." She saw Hollywood as the vehicle to get there.

But during the interview she couldn't answer possibly the most cliched interview question of all time: "Where do you see yourself in five to 10 years?"

James paused, thinking, and let out a small laugh.

"Honestly, I didn't think I would live to be 40, so I'm already on borrowed time," she said. "Trans people tend not to live that long."

In a 2011 survey from The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality, 41 percent of 6,450 transgender and gender non-conforming people polled nationwide reported they had attempted suicide. And according to a report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, transgender women were 72 percent of the victims in hate crime deaths in 2013 in the U.S.

"There are a lot of us, and we are out in the world living quiet, productive lives and we just want to be ourselves," James said. "It saddens me to see us turned into the new moral panic, where we're the predators and the dangerous ones."

There's a long way to go before transgender people find equality, James says, but being visible in areas such as her home state of Indiana where progression is a greater struggle will help those in the community feel accepted.

James will speak during Circle City IN Pride's festival week in a Wednesday event with the Indiana Historical Society called Being Transgender in Indiana: Making History Past and Present. She will talk about growing up in a time when few were able to come out as gay or lesbian — let alone people who didn't identify with their assigned birth sex.

"I think it's important for successful trans people to make themselves visible," she said. "My goal is to contextualize where we are in this movement and what it means for people who are in Indiana. There are almost as many trans people living in the United States as there are people living in Indianapolis. If I'm not willing to come back and fight the good fight and show the support for the people who are on the right side of history, then I'm not doing everything I can."

James' talk comes after a free health fair starting at 5 p.m. at the Indiana Historical Society and a series of other talks from people in the transgender community beginning at 7 p.m.. The fair will include mental health professionals, Indiana Transgender Network, Indiana Transgender Wellness Alliance, Freedom Indiana and jewelry and skin care vendors. It's a $10 ticket to see the speakers after the fair, which can be bought online at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2544151.

This event was created by transgender people for transgender people, organizer Korvin Bothwell said, but is open and welcome to members of the public. Bothwell said last year's first transgender-geared event was more popular than organizers expected, so they moved it to a larger venue and upped the scale.

"It's a time in our society where trans people are finding the need and the courage to say 'Hey, this is who I am,'" he said.

The event is intended to alleviate the isolation many transgender people feel. "It's very normalizing," he said. "It’s very validating to be around people just like you. Last year was the first time I had been around that many trans people at once."

Chrissy Garrison, an independently published transgender author, will co-emcee the event. Putting a face, a personality, on any issue to remove the fear is vital, she said.

"Trans people have been the T on the end of LGBT for a long time, and it was time for us to be in the spotlight for good or bad," she said. "If you know a transgender person, it’s a lot harder to hate a transgender person. That effort to normalize or to make us seem more accessible or more familiar makes us less scary, less likely to be used as the bogey man."

Increased exposure on TV and movies has helped to push stories of transgender people into the mainstream, most notably with Caitlyn Jenner's very public transition in 2015 and the popularity of Laverne Cox on Netflix's "Orange is the New Black," and Amazon's Emmy award-winning "Transparent."

"It's had a tremendous effect," James said. "Caitlin Jenner, whatever you feel about her, is a watershed moment."

In Hollywood it was typical to have just "one trans movie a year," and main transgender roles were given to people who weren't transgender. In 2005 James coached Felicity Huffman for her role in "Transamerica." Although James was grateful for more exposure and Huffman's activism through promoting the movie, James wanted more for the transgender community in film.

"The first 10 years we were out here, it was very difficult," James said of her production company, Deep Stealth Productions, started in 2003 with friend and fellow transgender activist, actor and author Calpernia Addams. "People just weren’t willing to take a chance on a trans person. We just started making our own stuff and trying to pitch our own things. It just felt like for the most part, the best chance trans people had was in unscripted television."

Now, as James is about to celebrate 20 years after her transition, she is excited that younger generations have options she didn't as a child growing up in Franklin in the late 1970s. “Bookish and nerdy” and struggling with her identity, she would scan through books and literature to discover some way to define how she was feeling.

Not so today.

"Instead of going to the Franklin Library card catalog, I would’ve jumped onto the nearest glowing screen," she said. "How remarkable it is to see the blossoming of this movement? It feels like this giant chorus of all sorts of different voices from all over the country."

Call Amy Bartner at (317) 444-6752 and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Being Transgender in Indiana: Making History Past and Present

What: A health fair with presentations from local members of the transgender community and Andrea James, each telling their stories.

When: Health fair, 5 to 7 p.m.; conversations with community members, 7 to 9 p.m.

Where:Indiana Historical Society, 450 W. Ohio St.

Get tickets: The health fair is free. The presentation with Andrea James following the fair is $10, http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2544151

More information: http://www.circlecityinpride.org/event/trans-pride.

Want to go to a Circle City IN Pride event? Here are a few of the many happening this week:

For a full list of events, go to http://www.circlecityinpride.org/week.

June 9: Loud and Proud with the Indy Pride Bag Ladies, 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. at Gregs Indy, 231 E 16th St. Suggested cover donation: $5.

June 10: Diversity Night with the Indiana Fever, 6 p.m., Bankers Life Fieldhouse, 125 S. Pennsylvania St. Tickets are discounted for Circle City IN Pride, using the code "PRIDE." Purchase tickets at http://www.circlecityinpride.org/event/fever-diversity-night.

June 11: Cadillac Barbie IN Pride Parade, starting at 10 a.m. on Massachusetts Avenue at College Avenue, heading southwest to Vermont Street, north up Pennsylvania Street to Michigan Street. Free.

June 11: Circle City IN Pride Festival, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the American Legion Mall, at North and Pennsylvania streets. Free.