When best friends Gottmik and Gigi Gorgeous get together, they “spiral.” They can’t help but brainstorm their next move. That creative energy resulted in The T Guide: Our Trans Experiences and a Celebration of Gender Expression―Man, Woman, Nonbinary, and Beyond, a book about their experiences, Gottmik (aka Kade Gottlieb) as a trans man and Gigi Gorgeous as a trans woman.
“This book,” Gigi Gorgeous emphasizes, “is all about safety.” She and Gottmik are able to share their journeys and their cautionary tales, as well as basic information that’s difficult to find elsewhere about transitioning, surgery, and much more. The book is a refuge and a source for youth and for parents and other allies. It also features a long list of contributors, from Sasha Colby to ALOK to their own parents, which helps bring in a wide range of experiences. “It opened my brain up,” Gottmik admitted, reading some of the stories of other contributors.
The two authors hope that the book can help fight the flood of misinformation currently out there. They opened up about how hard it was to get their ID and gender markers changed—Gottmik said it took them six months to get a psychiatrist appointment to even start the process to get hormones. “My medical transition has saved my life,” Gottmik said, and while it isn’t necessary for all trans people to do, it’s important for allies and trans people to know the facts so they can transition safely and have the support they deserve.
Gottmik, Gigi Gorgeous, and host Aurora Sexton encouraged allies, including ones within the queer community (which has plenty of transphobia) to educate themselves so that trans people can protect their own energy and not always be the ones forced to speak up in an increasingly dangerous world for gender non-conforming and trans people. After the Chicago Humanities Festival event, the two stars spent a generous amount of their time talking to and taking photos with attendees while signing books.
“We’re going to keep fighting,” Gottmik writes in the new book. “We’re going to keep normalizing the trans experience. So, everyone’s going to have to get into it or get lost.”
Today, Gigi Gorgeous is beloved for her critically-acclaimed documentary, her outrageous sense of humor, her no-holds-barred honesty, and her glam Hollywood lifestyle. Ten years ago, she was a gawky Canadian teen named Gregory. In He Said, She Said, Gigi brings us on her personal journey from Gregory to Gigi, going deeper than ever before and exposing her vulnerability behind each struggle and triumph, with her signature humor on every page.
With stunning photography and heirloom snapshots, He Said, She Said takes us back to Gigi's early years as an Olympic-bound diver and high school mean girl, losing her mom at a tragically young age, and her journey of opening up about her sexuality and gender identity. She walks us through her transition, baring it all about dating and heartbreak in her stories of falling in love with both men and women.
Uproarious, unconventional, and unabashedly candid, Gigi shares never-before-heard stories, inspiration, and advice about how your life can take you to incredible places once you get real with yourself.
Mod opinion: I haven't read this memoir and I probably won't, but it sounds that if you enjoy Gigi's youtube channel you'll also like this one.
Are there limits to your love for your family? One family's acceptance is tested when a champion diver, destined for the Olympics, announces they're transitioning from male to female and invites their YouTube followers along for every moment. It's a story about unconditional love and finding the courage to be yourself.