Tuesday's Trans Writer: Diana Goetsch

I first encountered Diana at a writers’ festival last fall and was super psyched when, after meeting her at the opening reception, we fell in step with one another and spent the few free hours we were granted during the afternoon together.

The fact is I know very little about what it feels and means to be trans. Just because I with a trans kid does not automatically mean I’m going to get it— because the issues are complicated.

Diana is freakishly smart— hard to keep up with, in fact. And not hesitant to tell you if you’ve missed the mark.

As a result, I learned a lot from her in those few hours. She has fought hard to be a woman, so she pushed back against my notion, adopted from 15 year old JJ, that “gender is pointless.” She’s fought hard to be a woman. And, frankly, she’s a hell of lot more feminine than I’ve ever been.

Diana came out at the age of fifty. Her memoir, This Body I Wore, is about her life before coming out, which really was a double-life in which she engaged in cross-dressing over the weekends, when off from work as a school teacher. She’s also a wicked poet, as evidenced by this sonnet. For those who don’t read much poetry: writing a sonnet is, like, really hard.

On another note, here’s her article from the Los Angeles Times on doing a “red state library tour.” Fearless.