Margie Fishman

The News Journal

In "Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric," the veteran news anchor travels the country to talk about gender identity, genetics and brain chemistry.

These are sensitive topics, particularly when Couric interviews a family raising a 5-year-old transgender girl and a longtime married couple grappling with one spouse's transition.

Couric also visits with Gavin Grimm, a Virginia transgender teen who sued his school board over access to a high-school boys' bathroom. The Supreme Court refused to take up the case in March, after President Donald Trump revoked federal guidelines to public schools that allowed transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice.

The documentary, which first aired in February and is recommended for viewers ages 13 and older, will have a special screening Thursday at Cab Calloway School of the Arts, 100 N. Dupont Road, Wilmington. The 6:30 p.m. event is free and no reservations are required.

The two-hour film was produced in partnership with National Geographic Media, which is providing free DVDs to schools nationwide. National Geographic magazine also devoted its January issue to examining gender concepts around the world.

Transgender is a term used to describe people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. An estimated .6 percent of adults, or about 1.4 million people, identify as transgender in the U.S. In Delaware, more than 4,500 adults identify as transgender, the ninth-highest percentage by population in the country.

Following the screening, Sarah McBride, a Wilmington native and national transgender advocate, will moderate a panel discussion in the school auditorium. The 26-year-old serves as the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C. She made history last year as the first transgender person to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

McBride's mother, Sally, runs a support group for parents of transgender children, PFLAG, that meets monthly in Wilmington.

"The documentary is so informative," she said, "for anyone who wants to learn more about the issue of gender and so affirming for the LGBT people and their families, friends and allies."

Joining the McBrides will be DeShanna Neal, a Wilmington mother of a transgender teen; Karla Fleshman, LGBTQ mentor for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware; Lisa Goodman, co-president of Equality Delaware; and Brett Herb, a gender therapist in Newark.

Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882, on Twitter @MargieTrende or mfishman@delawareonline.com.