BLAIRE WHITE: The
only death threats
I get, the only hate I get in
a really serious way that's not
just playfully trolling
online is from people who
have a problem with my views.
I once tweeted that it was
harder to come out as more
right wing than as trans.
On the left, I get people
that hate me despite being
trans because of my views.
And I'm seen as a trader
to the trans community.
And on the right,
I get people who
hate me just because I'm trans.
If you mix being trans with
having a few right wing
opinions, it's a [BLEEP].
You get [BLEEP]
on by both sides.
My name's Blaire White, I'm
24, I live in Hollywood,
and I am a YouTuber.
When I made my first video,
I was actually in college.
I was feeling a bit defeated
because everyone around me
in the college environment
disagreed with almost all
of my views.
And I felt like I
needed an outlet.
So I uploaded to
YouTube on a whim.
And I woke up the next
day and it had blown up.
And ever since then, my life
has been completely different.
It's not a popular
opinion, it's not
a politically correct
opinion, but I've never been
one for political correctness.
For a while on my channel, I
was moving more and more right.
And I think that that
showed in my videos.
I think that when
I started I was
more center and then
through the election,
I got more and more right.
I feel like in the
current political climate,
there is increasing pressures to
identify as either all the way
left or all the way right.
And I think that it's
a false dichotomy.
I sort of identify more
as socially liberal
and then fiscally conservative.
I think that these
days to identify
as conservative in any way
means you have to identify
socially as conservative.
And that's just not
the way that I roll.
I'm not going to compromise my
beliefs on how people should be
treated because I have
certain more, perhaps,
conservative views on how
the economy should be run.
It's frustrating to
feel like I'll never
be able to sit in a room full of
leftists because of my beliefs
and I'll never be able to sit
in a room with conservatives
because I'm trans.
Feminism is not synonymous
with women's rights.
Do you like puppies?
Do you give back
to your community?
Do you hate white people?
People have expanded the
definitions of bigotry
and racism and homophobia
and all this [BLEEP]
so far that, really,
anything can be
considered racist these days.
There's an image
problem with the left.
A lot of conservative speakers
would go to liberal college
campuses and there
would be outrage
and there would sometimes
be violence, protests.
A lot of times it
gets out of hand.
People act really,
really extreme
in order to silence these
conservative speakers
from speaking at their school.
It's been very easy
for the right to say,
this is the face of liberalism.
It's people freaking
out, not wanting
to hear dissenting views.
If the left wants
to win in 2020,
I think the biggest
thing they can do
is to stop being so radically
politically correct.
Be willing to have
a conversation.
I'm trans and I have
been able to have
conservative speakers
on my channel,
whether to debate or
have discussions with.
Ben Shapiro, for example,
who's very notoriously,
and has a reputation of
being, flat out anti-trans.
If you and I were to go to a
business dinner or any kind
of dinner and you were
meeting me at a restaurant
and I was there first and
I was in an orange shirt
and you had to tell the host I'm
here to meet my friend, Blaire.
And they said, OK, and
you had to describe
me to take you to the table.
You wouldn't say, the
man in the orange shirt.
You would say, Blaire, you
would say her over there.
BEN SHAPIRO: You're right.
If I were to walk into dinner
and try and describe you,
you look like a woman.
Therefore, to the
person there, I
wouldn't be trying
to explain who
you were or your
background because what's
the point of that?
But that's not to suggest
the truth of the pronoun
that I'm using to
describe to the person.
BLAIRE WHITE: The reason he was
willing to go on my channel is
because I'm not
one of the people
in the trans community
that freaks out and screams
and is so offended by him.
I'd rather speak to
him, engage with him,
learn where he is
coming from, still
disagree with him
on certain things,
but have the conversation.
And that's the link
that's missing.
Personally, I can't think of
a single other trans person
in media right now
that could go on all
the conservative shows have
gone on to have a conversation
and open minds.
One of the biggest reactions
I've gotten on my channel
is from conservative
people who come to me
and they say, wow, I
thought being trans
was a political thing.
And what they come to realize is
it's actually just who you are
and it's not political at all.
The basis of what I
believe in is freedom,
it's bodily autonomy.
And, to me, people
are just expressing
freedom and bodily autonomy.
They're doing what they
want with their lives.
And I feel like any time you're
doing something for yourself
that affects no one else--
altering your body to be
trans, to live as the gender
you want, that's something
that affects you that
has to do with you and
your soul and I don't
like that it's so politicized.
One of my most popular videos
is one called,"there's only
two genders."
And I made it just because I
was feeling a bit frustrated
that there's so many
people willing to try
to understand trans people.
And the topic gets
so complicated
and people add
thousands of genders.
I think that what's
realistic is there
really is just two genders.
Just because you failed
to be perfectly masculine
or perfectly feminine
doesn't mean that you
have invented a new gender.
I think that one of the
left's problem in normalizing
and getting people to
understand LGBT people
in general, especially
trans people,
is they often
over-complicate the issue.
I feel like every
other week there's
some new letter added to LGBT--
and I get it, there's a
lot of different kinds
of people out there.
But sometimes, it
gets to be a bit much.
I think that the
fact that there are
supposed to be thousands
and thousands of genders
isn't really helpful.
I think that no one
actually identifies
as any of those
thousands of genders,
but people like to pretend
like people really do.
That's giving such
a gift to people
who want to argue against
trans people by saying,
I don't have to
believe this person
identifies this way because this
person identifies as a frog.
You're always going
to find crazy people
who identify as frogs, girl.
I don't necessarily
believe in this
born in the wrong body thing
where I have a female soul.
I think I was born
in the right body.
I think I was meant to be
Blaire White, the trans woman.
I think it's a coping
mechanism to use the born
in the wrong body thing.
I've never viewed myself as
oppressed just by being trans.
I've always seen the
things that were in my way
as obstacles to get
over, not roadblocks.
And I think that's
something that more
trans people could benefit
from viewing it that way.
People forget how easy
it is in the first world,
in the Western world.
I get e-mails and messages
from LGBT people in the Middle
East all the time saying--
your videos give me comfort
because if anyone found out I
was trans, I would be murdered.
Or if anyone found out I
was gay, I'd be arrested.
I am a gay person
living in Saudi Arabia.
Being gay is illegal here
and so is being trans.
If you're found out,
you can be arrested here
and the jails are not
friendly to LGBT at all.
I traveled to a
European country to seek
asylum because it's illegal
to be trans in my country.
I was arrested a few
months before traveling
because I'm trans and
the crime was violation
of customs and traditions.
And so I think
some perspective is
needed on that issue for sure.
The things that
mean the most to me
is when I get stories
from people saying,
I am 15 years old and I needed
to come out to my parents
as gay, or trans,
or bi, or whatever.
And the way I was able to
do it because my family is
so conservative is through
watching your videos.
The fact that I can have any
impact like that on people
means the world to me.
It's easy when you're sort of on
my end to see things as numbers
or screen names or
comments and you forget
that it really is real people.
And it's a lot of real people.
And their lives
and their opinions
and things that happen to them
can be informed by one video
that I do.
I am who I am.
I think there's a huge
misconception that I
mean harm to people when
I share my opinions,
but I really don't.
I'm just in a new space where
I'm trying to show people
more of who I am rather than
living off of the controversy
that I've caused in the past.
I think that for
a long time it was
fun to be a bit of
a [BLEEP] stirrer
and I don't regret
it because I got
to where I am because of it.
I look back at [BLEEP] I said
six months ago and I'm like,
that was wrong.
I look back at [BLEEP] I said
in the beginning and I'm like,
wow, that's a different person.
But now it's about OK,
built the platform,
what do I do with it now?
And it's a really, really
exciting time because I
can try different things.
To all the haters, I say if
your convinced on hating me,
then be convinced on hating me.
But if you're willing
to give me a chance,
I'd really appreciate it.
At the end of the day, I really
am just a normal person trying
to make content
that makes people
laugh or inspires them or makes
them happy or makes them think.
And you shouldn't take me so
seriously because I really
do not take myself seriously.
I'm a tranny on YouTube,
it's not that deep.
