13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman has sat down with Time Magazine to reveal that she is a transgender woman, and will be going by she/her pronouns from here on out.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Usually, PEDESTRIAN.TV would never use a trans person’s dead name, aka the name they used before living authentically as their gender identity. However, Tommy has said that Tommy is still her name, which is why we’re using it here.]
The purposes of the Time interview were to “reintroduce” Tommy Dorfman to the world. Dorfman herself said that it was less about “coming out” and more of about “clarity”.
“We’re talking today to discuss my gender. For a year now, I have been privately identifying and living as a woman — a trans woman,” she said.
“Coming out is always viewed as this grand reveal, but I was never not out.
“Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy.”
In the (rather excellent) interview, Dorfman reveals that she will be keeping her full name, as she was named after her uncle who died only one month after she was born.
“ … I feel very connected to that name, to an uncle who held me as he was dying,” she shared. “This is an evolution of Tommy. I’m becoming more Tommy.”
Dorfman shared with Time that at first, she was afraid to share her story with the world, but over time has realised that transitioning is a “beautiful” thing, and that her narrative is hers to control.
“It is not transition. Or it is, but not as an idea of going somewhere. Just that I am actually myself,” she said.
“There’s the version I couldn’t really afford to do, which is to disappear for two years and come back with a new name, new face and new body,” she explained. “But that’s not what I wanted.”
She also touched upon the fact that in coming forward with her story, she will be losing many friends and supporters who do not share her beliefs.
“I’m aligning my body with my soul. Yet as a result of that, I am losing some things.
“I have to reckon with the fact that I brought along a lot of people and things who might not end up being there for this part of my journey.
“All I can do now is look to a future where I am, hopefully, just radically honest.”
You can watch the full interview with Time called ‘Reintroducing Tommy Dorfman’ right here:
