I definitely agree with a point that Taylor makes, that coming out trans seems to be different in some ways than coming out gay (at least from where I sit, on my side of things).

And I (obviously) agree that there’s something of a journey involved. And there’s the way you end up having to enlist external resources (medical treatment, hormones, re-wardrobing, etc) in order to give your internal self a firmer foothold on the external world (which then seems to bring about further internal changes).

On the elephant, this is a pretty passionate subject for a lot of trans people, one that has seen heated debate in the past year in particular (“Dallas Buyer’s Club” vs. “OITNB,” Arcade Fire’s “We Exist” video, etc.) Personally, just speaking for myself, I’d prefer to see trans actors in trans roles, but I’m also willing to grandfather in older films and television on the subject. You’ve got to work with what you’ve got (in terms of being a trans person looking for representation.) And trans involvement behind the scenes can (for me) alleviate some concerns (but not entirely). I do think a cis actor can successfully pull of a trans role (Lee Pace in “Soldier’s Girl”), but it’s rare. But in Transparent’s case specifically, I don’t find it inappropriate since she’s at the very start of transition. You’d probably get a number of different opinions on this from different trans people.

Overall, some parts of the pilot range true for me (particularly Maura’s shift in body language after her kid’s left), and Soloway seems to be saying and doing a lot of the right things outside of the show itself. (Props for her bringing up Julia Serano’s “Whipping Girl” in some of her interviews. Pretty important trans feminist book.)

We’ll see how it goes. Looking forward to see the rest of the season.