Before Trey Jordan was a filmmaker, she spent much of her youth unable to live as her authentic self. She found herself in less accepting spaces, namely the church and school. “These were very conservative, white spaces—and I was a Black, flamboyant kid. One could imagine how this made navigating these spaces difficult.”
Finding herself and her identity in her environment was a challenge. “I always knew that I was transgender, but I never had the vocabulary for it. I wasn’t allowed to be openly queer throughout middle and high school. Our yearly-updated handbook even stated that queer kids would be kicked out.”
After years of hiding her true self, Trey’s life changed when she finally graduated high school and went off to college. She came out as a transgender woman, and as pansexual (a sexuality defined by attraction to people of all genders). She also found a community of people, a chosen family, that helped her grow into the person she is today. “While this saved my life,” she says, “I still lived in towns that were primarily racist and hateful to LGBTQ+ people.”
Trey started transitioning in 2023, which is the process transgender people undergo to change their physical appearance, name, pronouns, and legal documents to match their gender. This is a process that is unique to everyone—for Trey, it was, as she describes, “an uphill battle.” Her coworkers and college peers purposefully misgendered her (deliberately referring to her by the wrong gender), and it began to negatively impact her. “I lost many opportunities in my career because of that decision.”
“Luckily, I left that town and moved to New York City. New York City may not be the safest place in the world, but there is a thriving community of successful trans individuals that made me feel a lot less alone in this world.” This support and safety has allowed Trey to funnel her passion and experience into filmmaking and storytelling.
Trey says that safety and security are incredibly important parts of thriving in the world, especially as a trans person. “For the longest time, I was jealous of people who don’t have to go through any of this, and can spend time on their art, their careers, their relationships. I would have loved to see how far I would have gone if I didn’t have to worry about my safety. But I learned that each life is not the same, and that is a good thing.”
“While I don’t expect everyone to fully understand my life, I urge everyone to treat everyone, trans or not, like real, living, breathing people, with emotions and desires. The trans community is filled with so much joy—people who don’t want anything to do with us will never experience that kind of community. I believe we should have awkward conversations, encourage people to live their truth, and to love every day as a gift.”