Eleven years ago, I went up into the California mountains with a group of women who were producing and acting in the first all-transgender production of my play The Vagina Monologues. Many of the women were coming out as trans. Many had suffered terrible violence and trauma.

During those days in the mountains, I learned about the prejudices and stigma that force transgender people into stealth existences. I learned of painful childhoods, where those determined as male or female struggle against bullying and mind control to feel right in their bodies. I learned how the assignment of sex is random, and can be catastrophic. I learned how patriarchy attempts to annihilate anyone assigned a male identity who knows they are female and attempts to make the transition. I learned about the gruelling processes – physical, emotional and spiritual – trans people go through to match their bodies with their beings.

Trans​ representation in the media has exploded. But I haven’t seen​ the deep truths from transgender people themselves

In the years since, I’ve watched as dialogue about transgender life has grown and representation in the media has exploded. But there is one thing I haven’t seen: those deep truths I learned over a decade ago told by trans people themselves. That’s why I’m so honoured to be executive producer of a new web TV series, Her Story, that looks inside the love lives of trans and queer women. This series is so real, specific and intense – and, I hope, a model for future television programmes – because it is the first show made by a collective of trans and queer writers, actors, directors, producers, camera people and musicians, who created it independently and funded it on a shoestring.

“For most of my life,” says Jen Richards, the show’s co-writer and co-producer, “I was able to identify with the hero of almost every cultural product: the young, straight, white man stretching for greatness. But with transition came a heightened understanding of how society treats women, as well as new relationships with all kinds of marginalised people.”



Watch the trailer for Her Story

Jen, who plays an engaging character called Vi in the show, adds: “All I’ve wanted to do since is share our stories. I lived with a trans woman called Angelica for two years, and watched her struggle with dating, even though she was one of the most remarkable people I’ve ever met. I was struggling with if and how I fit into queer-women circles. It’s astonishing that such rich territory hasn’t been explored already.”

Did she find it a challenge to involve trans people in the process? “If there isn’t a trans person in every area of production, in the places where decisions are made, something is going to go awry. There simply isn’t enough familiarity with our experiences for people not to have blind spots.”

Her Story is gritty, sexy and real. The episodes revolve around two women: Vi, a mysterious newcomer to Los Angeles who is beginning to break free from self-imposed isolation. And then there’s Paige, a driven lawyer based on Angelica, who has given up on love and now masks her vulnerability with ambition.

In one tense scene, we watch the range of emotions Paige goes through as she tries to work out when to tell her handsome date she is trans. Before drinks? Before dinner? Or not at all? We see the mad calculations she is forced to go through in order to be herself. And we see the conflicts and minefields a lesbian character, Allie, faces when she finds herself falling for Vi, and has to defend her relationship with Vi to her lesbian friends.

Her Story comes at a time when transgender characters and stories are appearing on television, from Jeffrey Tambor’s touching character in the dark comedy Transparent, to the fierce yet tender portrayal of a trans woman in prison by Laverne Cox in Orange is the New Black; from Caitlyn Jenner’s reality show I Am Cait, to the traumatised Nomi and her profoundly lovable girlfriend, Amanita, in Sense8.

The media is finally showing what it is to live as a trans person today – in family, in prison, within gay culture, within black culture, within straight culture, at work, in Hollywood. These shows are challenging gender constructs, breaking taboos and bringing us into the hearts and souls of trans people who have been made invisible – or caricatures – for too long. What’s triggered the change?



Amy Landecker and Jeffrey Tambor in Jill Soloway’s series Transparent. Photograph: Amazon Home Video

“It’s partly exploitative: the media is always looking for new stories and causes – and the fight for gay rights is largely won,” says Jen. “Here is another movement full of people who have been steadily working in relative obscurity for years. Social media has made a community among trans people possible. And, of course, it’s also sheer happenstance. Jill Soloway, the creator of Transparent, was an established showrunner when her father came out as trans; Laverne Cox was ready, after years and years of acting, for a major role just as Netflix started breaking all the rules of TV casting; and Caitlyn Jenner came out when her family, the Kardashians, were the most visible family in the world.”

In Her Story, we don't get the go-to black transsexual prostitute or the late-transitioning white trans woman

Her Story could be the new rad-fem soap opera. The characters all work against cliche, exploitation and political correctness. Angelica Ross, who plays the fierce and sexy Paige, says: “Jen and I would see depictions of trans people in shows and could predict the entire storyline of a character based on stereotypes.

“But in Her Story, we don’t get the go-to black transsexual prostitute, the late-transitioning white trans woman. Instead, the show points out that there are, say, white sex workers as well as successful black trans women. And, no matter what their particular privileges, they still face a myriad of challenges. Paige is a successful lawyer, but that doesn’t mean her life has always been easy. Not long ago, Jen and I were sitting in our apartment in Chicago telling each other these stories. If love is a battlefield, the two of us are dating warriors. Our experiences are like Sex and the City on steroids! Now we get to tell them to the world.”

What is most moving about Her Story is that it is about love: the hunger for love, the obstacles to love, the triumphs of love, the confusion of love, the possibility of love. “Like so many trans women,” says Angelica, “I am dying to be loved, literally. Too many trans women of colour have died at the hands of men who we wish would just love us, if only for one night. Shows like Her Story can expose the root of the violence, help remove stigma and show it’s OK to find trans people sexually desirable. It’s OK to fall in love with them.”

Trans women, the show’s director Sydney Freeland points out, “have a tendency to be heavily sexualised and fetishised, which was exactly the opposite of what we were aiming for.

“At its heart,” she says, “Her Story is about two people getting to know each other. I love that. It feels fresh, yet familiar. It was like, ‘Wow! I didn’t know I wanted this – but now I want to be a part of it.’ I get to work on a show that rings true to my experience. It’s not often I get to say that. And anyway, who doesn’t love a good love story?”

• Her Story is out in October.