 [percussive music]
♪ ♪
 [loud droning music]
♪ ♪
 male narrator: Sugar and spice
 and everything nice.
 That's what little girls
 are made of.
 Frogs and snails
 and puppy dog tails.
 That's what little boys
 are made of.
 But what about you?
 Maybe you're made
 with a dash of sugar
 and a pinch of snails.
 [laughs]
 Well, that's okay.
 You might just identify
 as what we'd call transgender.
- My name is Madin Lopez,
and I'm a hairstylist by day
and a philanthropist
by night.
 So my preferred gender pronouns
 are "they," "them,"
 and "their,"
which are
nonbinaried gender pronouns.
So I don't necessarily
like to be called a boy,
and I don't necessarily
like to be called a girl.
- How are you? Good to see you.
- Nice to see you.
 During my time off,
 I go and do hair for those
 that are not paying customers.
- The Los Angeles LGBT Center
is the largest LGBT organization
in the world.
 This community of LGBT youth,
 they are most at risk
 for suicidality,
 for homelessness,
 for drug and dependency,
 and alcohol issues,
 for engaging in survival sex.
[electric clippers buzzing]
- How long you
been cutting hair?
- I did the math yesterday.
It's been 13 years.
- Oh, wow.
- What the hell?
- Madin does a great deal of
volunteer work with the center.
 - I'm from Los Angeles,
 born and raised.
 You would think, like,
 Los Angeles,
 like, people don't
 get kicked out of their homes
 for being gay in Los Angeles.
 That's, like, not true.
 There's a lot of youth
 that are transgender
 and get kicked out
 of their homes
 for being exactly who they are.
I've been there,
and I was there a lot.
The first time that I felt
like a human again
after having to, like,
live out of cars
or live on the streets
or live in foster homes
 was when I got my hair done.
- Certain things are acceptable,
you know, like
you have to wear a suit
and tie for an interview,
you know?
- If I wear dress pants and,
like, a button up shirt then
I'm gonna have
to act conservative.
I mean, I can act conservative,
but all the time
I can't do that.
I mean, like--
- For the most part the way
that you look is your first step
into what people see about you.
Individuality through fashion,
through things like this
is what sets us apart.
There's a lot of youth that,
like,
want to feel better
in their body.
You know, a full makeover
is of course
the best way to do that.
- LifeWorks has decided
to organize a makeover event
for six of our trans youth.
 These are young people
 who are coming from
 very different backgrounds.
 Some are coming from really
 very accepting homes,
 and then there are some
 who struggle
 with family acceptance.
 I've been working
 with Jessica-Jean
 since the beginning
 of her transition.
 Jessica-Jean has struggled
 with getting a job.
 She has not yet obtained
 a legal name change
 and so
 that makes it really hard.
 Carman is a very
 educated young woman.
 A lot of young people
 when they transition,
 it's almost like
 a second adolescence.
You go through the process
all over again
of figuring out what to wear.
 Ashleah has really struggled
 to have an understanding
 of acceptance
 and when the world
 around you rejects you
 and makes you feel
 less than,
 you begin to believe that
 of yourself.
 Milo, when I first met him
 he was really shy,
 didn't always look me
 in the eye.
 This is an opportunity for Milo
 to express himself
 as your typical teenage boy.
 Ash is very young,
 but Ash has
 a very specific idea
of how he expresses
his gender identity.
♪ ♪
 I wanted to give an opportunity
 for Zander to participate
 because he is someone
 who identifies as gender fluid
 even though he's a part
 of the transgender community
 he doesn't necessarily
 identify all the way
 as a boy or as a girl.
All of the youth that are
participating in this project
need just this
positive encouragement.
This is why I chose
the six that I did.
- I really hope that
working through this event
I'm able to give
on a larger scale
what I give on a daily basis.
You know, I get to work
with trans youth all the time,
but I get about
20 minutes a person.
I think I get a little bit
more than that this time around.
- This makeover means
the world to me.
I don't think that
you guys really know
how much this is gonna
change my life.
- And of course my parents,
they didn't understand
a lot of the things
that I was going through
as a black, gay man.
Now Beyoncé on the other hand,
she is a southern Creole
pageant girl you understand.
I was down and out with despair;
she gave me listen.
- Honestly,
Beyoncé is the reason
I'm working my ass off
right now.
 Between my day job
 and volunteer work,
 I'm probably doing hair
 about 60 hours a week.
 [intro to Beyoncé's "Formation"
 playing]
♪ ♪
 - ♪ Y'all haters corny
 with that illuminati mess ♪
 ♪ Paparazzi, catch my fly
 and my cocky fresh ♪
 ♪ I'm so reckless when
 I rock my Givenchy dress ♪
 - ♪ Stylin' ♪
 - ♪ I'm so possessive
 so I rock his Roc necklaces ♪
 ♪ My daddy Alabama ♪
 ♪ Mama Louisiana ♪
 ♪ You mix that negro
 with that Creole ♪
 ♪ Make a Texas bama ♪
 ♪ I like my baby heir
 with baby hair and afros ♪
 ♪ I like my negro nose with
 Jackson Five nostrils ♪
- Oh, my God I'm mad at you.
You are a hair genius.
 - ♪ The country out me ♪
 ♪ I got hot sauce in my bag,
 swag ♪
- This volunteer work is, like,
the most important thing
in my life right now.
 I'm married, which is amazing.
 I have dogs at home
 which is amazing.
 I have a full-time job.
 All is great, but
there is, like,
a lot of pain inside
and this is the only cure
that I've found
 is working
 with a demographic that
 is the beginning
 of where my pain began.
I was 12 years old
when I was taken
to the police station
when they finally, like, saw
 that I was
 in an unhealthy home.
 The abuse started very early.
I was, you know, left in my
dad's hands to take care of me.
He had no idea
what to do with me.
I was just a punching bag
at home
until one faithful day
when my dad got really upset
and used, like,
one of the thick orange
electrical cords.
One of my friends
from early on had seen me
get beat up all the time
and was finally like
"No, I'm done.
I'm gonna tell the teacher."
 I went to three different
 foster care homes.
 The white family
 didn't really know
 how to communicate their guilt
 about having a black child
 in their home,
 and then I was passed along
 to an Asian family
 that I don't think
 I got spoken to
 the whole time I was there.
 And then the third home
 that I went to was
a black home in Pasadena,
a foster home.
She was a hairstylist,
and she had a salon
in her basement.
 It was the first time
 I really had a consultation.
 She was like "What are you
 doing to your hair right now?
 What are you doing with your
 hair; what's happening?
 The person that came up
 out of that basement
 was a completely
 different person
than the one that went in.
You know, it was like
I was stripping off
every--all of the baggage
that I'd been carrying
that whole time.
It's really beautiful to be able
to give that same feeling
to a lot of these youth
that are just trying to get by.
When I got called
to be a part
of the Life Works
Makeover Event,
it just felt like a Bat Signal,
you know, like,
you look up in the sky
and you're like,
"Is somebody calling me?"
- I think this makeover will be
a really good experience
just to kind of see, you know,
what the future kind of holds.
The fact that I get to talk
about trans so much and, like,
maybe reach out
to some kids watching this
that feel like they have no one.
- You know, looking in the
mirror is miserable, you know,
and, like, seeing something
you don't want
to see all the time
is just, like, you know,
it's devastating.
But I didn't know
specifically trans
because I didn't know
anyone who was trans.
I identified as, like,
a straight male
until I was, like, 18, 17.
So it--not knowing for so long
was a big deal
and really difficult,
and the realization
took a long time.
- So many of them are feeling
the pressures from society
to conform to a specific gender
or gender role.
 [playful music]
♪ ♪
- So there's four areas
that make up
everyone's unique personality.
 One is gender, in the mind
 what you identify as--
 male, female,
 both, or neither.
 Second is sexual orientation,
 in the heart what
 you're attracted to.
 So gay, straight, bi.
 Third is your physical sex,
 your anatomy.
 And fourth is what you dress as
 or how you want
 to express yourself.
 narrator: Ah,
 the miracle of life.
 Most of us are born with either
 a vagina or a penis.
 But that doesn't determine
 how we should look,
 act, or dress.
 The pressure to be
 all girl or all boy
 is what we call
 the gender binary.
 But that's like
 living in a world
 where you can eat
 only chocolate or vanilla.
 In reality,
 gender is a spectrum.
 Just look around.
 You'll see people enjoying
 all kinds of different flavors.
♪ ♪
- So a preferred gender pronoun
or a PGP is--actually
 a lot of the nomenclatures
 changed a little bit.
 It's not a "preferred" anymore
 because "preferred" makes
 it kind of, like, an option
 rather than what you are.
 So now it's, like,
 personal gender pronoun.
Like, my PGPs are "she,"
"her," "hers."
My sex if female
and my gender is female.
My penis is female.
- I try to pass as male.
I try for people to see me
in public as a man.
- You dress and, like, looks,
and you look like you "pass"
as a woman, you know,
passing as a concept
is super flawed,
to me, at least.
I know a lot of people
value it a lot.
- The work we have to do
with the society
is not trying to put
each trans person in a box
saying "You don't
look woman enough,"
 or "You don't look man enough."
 Not every transgender person
 feels the need
 to be on hormones
 or to pursue surgery.
 It doesn't make them
 more or less transgender.
 And a lot of people
 have that misconception
 that there's a before
 and an after.
 And really, it's a through.
- The first thing
that I think I said was,
"So do you want a penis?"
And he was like, "No!"
So that was
my first thought.
You know, I've learned
in the past months
that it's not that.
You know, it has nothing
to do with that.
It's who you feel
like you are inside.
Your gender.
- Like, I cannot imagine
living my life as female.
- At times he feels like
he could hurt himself,
you know, just because
of the way he feels inside.
And I've heard
a lot of horror stories
about, you know,
the percentage of trans kids
that commit suicide.
- 40% of trans youth
attempt suicide.
That's almost half.
Let's imagine
how many of those youth
that attempt actually succeed.
- I didn't feel like
I had any worth of living.
I didn't feel like I had
anything to give the world.
And I remember that point where
it's like, "It needs to end."
I sat there and I went
to my bathroom,
and I pulled out
some toilet bowl cleaner
and drank it.
And I never want someone
to feel like that.
- I felt like if I died,
I would just--I feel like
I'd be in a better place
or go to a better place
and not have to deal
with someone
telling me it's not right.
I almost wish that
most of the time
when I would fall asleep
I wouldn't wake up
and I'd just be
in an eternal dream
where I'm Ashleah
and everyone is okay with it.
What stopped me
was the fact
that I wouldn't get to see
what I would turn out to be.
 I want to see it.
I don't want to dream it.
I want to do it.
- I don't even think
about this as a makeover.
I think of this
as an affirmation.
I hope that these young people
leave on that day
with an understanding
that they're being affirmed
and they're being celebrated.
- I'm hoping for
a more masculine appearance.
Um...
I feel like I already look
a little bit masculine.
But I think if it could be
a bit more masculine,
I would feel a lot more
self-confident.
 [jazzy music]
♪ ♪
 - They'll show up
 in the morning,
 and there'll be four stations.
 There'll be hair,
 there'll be makeup,
 there'll be wardrobe,
 and photography.
 We have Cetine Dale
 doing makeup.
 Cetine does a lot of volunteer
 work for the center.
 Cetine even does
 makeup lessons.
 We have Lindsay Albanese
 doing wardrobe,
 and we actually chose her
 because Jessica-Jean
 requested her specifically.
- My dream stylist.
I've watched her for two years.
- Being your authentic self
is the best way to get noticed.
- Her style is modern,
and it's '90s.
 My personal style is,
 like, nonexistent.
 I'm homeless, so I
 live off clothing donations.
 I lived in Tennessee,
 really small town.
And that's where
I started understanding
that somewhere
and something about me is queer
but there is nothing
around me for it.
 I am living in a shelter
 in a church
 in their main room
 on a really ugly green cot
 and a blanket
 made out of recycled fibers.
 It's not the most
 ideal situation
 I think any 22-year-old wants.
 But due to circumstance,
 this is where I am.
 I'd flown out her thinking
 I can stay
 with this family friend,
 and between the hour flight
 that it took
 I get a message on Facebook
 saying "You can't stay with us.
 "We don't want
 to confuse the kids.
 There's not much space."
Definitely seen
my fair share of, like,
rejection just based
on looking at me.
What I'm looking for
instead of a makeover
is more so a make-under.
It's something
I'm not capable of,
of doing natural makeup.
 When I wear this lipstick,
 I feel like
 I just kissed a smurf.
 [dreamy music]
♪ ♪
- [indistinct singing]
♪ ♪
 - My birth name is Rodrigo.
I do not feel like
a Rodrigo at all.
I don't like to leave my house
at all when I'm Rodrigo.
I'd rather stay indoors and have
everyone just away from me
and just like to be alone.
 It feels like I'm in a jail.
- It'll be fun to see you--
- Finally be myself?
- It's been a long time
coming, you know?
- Yeah.
[laughs]
- It's here.
 - Me and Enrique met
 through a mutual friend,
 and then Joselin and Enrique
 started dating shortly after.
 They've been a very big part
 of my transformation.
Are you guys hungry?
- I am so hungry.
- Starving.
So, Rodrigo,
what is the difference
between being trans
and actually doing drag?
- Drag is more of,
like, a character
and Ashleah
is not a character.
It's who I am.
- So how would you be
preferred to be called?
- Ashleah.
- Ashleah?
- All the time.
- All the time, okay.
- You got it.
- I know.
- I'm so excited.
From now on, only Ashleah.
- Ashleah.
- Yes.
- I actually
want to know the answer
to what it means to be trans,
but I know what it means
to be yourself.
And I think that that's
the most important factor
in all of this.
I'm sorry.
- Oh, my God.
Ahh!
- Hi, Ashleah.
- Hi.
- I'm Madin, come on over.
- Ahh!
 - Ashleah was the first person
 that I got to see.
 She was just the most excited
 little fairy queen princess.
Good to meet you.
- Good to meet you guys.
Oh, my God.
I'm so excited!
- Like, I feel like if I were
to see things through her eyes,
everything would be,
like, Technicolor and neon,
and sparkly.
But I think that what she was
walking into was
the rest of her life
is the way she put it.
And I mean, if you turn on
the lights
for the first time ever,
everything
is kind of sparkly.
All right, let's see
what you got under here.
- Horrible, horrible hair.
- Horrible, horrible hair?
Are you sure?
- Yeah, at least for now, yeah.
- My name is Madin.
My PGPs are "they," "them,"
and "their."
What are your PGPs?
- Oh, damn.
[laughter]
She.
- She.
- I'm a she.
- You're a she.
- Make me
look like a she.
- [laughs] Okay.
Awesome.
Well, we're gonna
do that today.
- Okay.
 - I got to pick out exactly
 the wig
 that Ashleah was looking for.
 I just felt like I was
 making her dreams come true.
 I felt like, you know,
 a fairy godparent just, like,
 flying down and, like,
 picking one and, you know,
 magically, it appearing
 on her head and...
- [laughs]
- Her feeling amazing.
- [gasps]
Whoa.
 [upbeat music]
- Hello.
- Oh, my God.
- Hello!
Come on over.
- Nice to see you in person.
- Oh, my God, you too.
Thank you.
I'm, like, so flattered
and honored that you--
- I was like--
I'm like--
- So good to see you.
- I'm going to give you
the style that you desire today.
- All right.
- This just kind
of screams your name.
- Totally.
- Do you think?
- Yeah.
 So I identify as gender fluid,
 which means I identify
 as male and female.
- So is this show
enough eye candy for you?
- Oh, yeah.
 I was bullied throughout
 elementary school
 and middle school.
 A scary thing for me
 was thinking that I'm crazy
 or, like, I'm the only one
 going through this.
 I get nervous and scared, like,
 when I go out for,
like, events
if I'm more on, like,
the feminine side or, like,
wearing a dress.
There's so much
misunderstanding
or, like, prejudice
out there in the world.
 I have a lot of fun
 just exploring who I am,
 just seeing what works
 and what makes me
 feel happy in myself.
- I like to think of myself
as an open person
and accepting and, you know,
that's not always the case.
He's finding his way
and, you know,
it's a wild ride,
but he's doing fine.
[laughs]
 - Zander was so courageous.
 And you could see
 that it wasn't easy.
 [upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- Hi.
Never done anything like this.
- Really?
- Yeah. It's really--I mean,
I just don't really know much
about makeup in any way, so--
- All right, well, I think
we're gonna start to play then.
- Yeah, sure.
- Okay, so we're gonna start
with neutrals
'cause you always want
to start with neutrals.
And I like to stay
on the outer eye
usually with
the darker colors
because it helps
to elongate your eyes
and make them
more almond shaped.
 - Even though Carman
 is so educated,
 getting some acceptance
 for herself
 and getting just
 an understanding
 of what she wants to look like,
 that's really important
 for her.
 - So I've only been living
 as full-time as a woman
 for about four to six months,
 and so every two weeks
 I have to inject myself
with 1 milliliter
of Delestrogen.
And so that's what I'm gonna do.
What I'm gonna do now is
I'm gonna--it's intramuscular,
so I have to put
this whole, like,
2-inch needle all the way
through into my thigh
and I'm injecting 1 milliliter
of robot-womanhood.
 [dreamy music]
♪ ♪
And that's that.
Pretty simple.
♪ ♪
- Do you feel like
the world has opened up?
- Yeah, I mean
I look significantly
different than I did even, like,
five months ago,
four months ago.
So Carman's actually
my birth name,
and so I really disliked my name
for a long time
and wanted to change
to one of my middle names.
Like, my confirmation name
is, like, Anthony.
By the time I was interested
in transitioning, like,
Carman was
the right name for me.
 - Carman, she was able
 to talk to me
 on a level of queer theory.
 It was just this--
 a whole different level
 beyond hairstyling.
- That's a whole other thing
with, like, you know,
a white trans experience versus
a black trans experience
'cause if someone perceives,
like, a black "man"
walking into, like,
a women's bathroom, you know,
it's three separate calls
to the cops, right?
Versus, like, you know,
this gay looking boy walking in,
you know, it looks
a whole lot different.
 - Her hair was hella cute,
 but I could've
 talked to her for hours.
♪ ♪
- I'm just making
your outline, like, red.
 - I'm really stoked
 for the 15-year-old boys.
 [laughs]
Because they get to go
into their adulthood
already locking down
a big part of who they are.
- Milo, I'm Lindsay.
- Hi, hi.
It's nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
Tell me, what is
your personal style right now?
- My style right now isn't
anything too, like, flamboyant.
It's more just, like, casual,
like, flannel shirt.
I really like just, like,
more tropical aesthetics...
- Okay.
- Sometimes.
Like, Hawaiian shirts.
- Ooh, I think
I might have something.
- Yes.
- I have, you know,
something like this.
- Yes.
- And I think for you, it's
so easy to have some style
with just layering something
under something else.
- Yeah.
- Oh, yeah.
 - There's just this amazing
 feeling of relief
 that I get from thinking that
 I never have to do
 anything feminine again
 for, like, the rest of my life.
 I just feel so much more free
 and so much more open
 and I feel like
 I can just do, like,
 so much more now
 that I am showing everyone else
 that this is who I am.
 I feel, like,
 kind of invincible,
 like I can do anything really.
- Look at you.
You look so fabulous.
Fantastic.
- Are you happy?
- Yes, I'm happy.
- It looks so--I love it.
- I know.
 - They get an opportunity
 to be celebrated.
How often are they being praised
for being just themselves?
Society puts them down.
Society makes them
feel less than,
and this is that
one opportunity.
 It's just planting a seed.
- Oh, my God,
is it real?
[laughs]
- I love it.
- How are you doing, Ma?
- I totally love it.
I totally love it.
- [laughs]
♪ ♪
- So good.
- You like it?
- I really love it.
- Oh, love it!
- It looks so good.
- Yeah, it--
 - I don't really have a style.
 Like, it's just kind of lazy.
 I asked them if they could
 dress me like a K-Pop boy.
 Kind of, like, tailored,
 but out there and,
 like, kind of flashy
and kind of old-timey,
like, the 1980s and stuff.
- Oh, that makes me so happy.
- It is.
- You look hot.
- Thank you so much. Thank you.
- It's a hot look, too.
- Thank you. I'm Ash.
- Hi.
What's up?
I love your hair.
- You're so gorgeous.
- Oh, thank you. So are you.
- Thank you.
 People have called me things
 like a tranny,
 or a faggot,
 doing this for attention.
 When adults tell me and, like,
 criticize me
 for making decisions
 because I'm so young
 and taking hormones
 I just kind of tell them that
 it's something
 I've always felt.
 This is definitely not a phase.
I never really felt like a girl.
If someone called me "she,"
it just didn't feel right.
[laughs]
 - Ash knew exactly
 what he wanted.
 Wanted to feel masculine,
 and said to me
 "I know I'm gonna be
 a very feminine man,
 and I'm okay with that."
 And it was just so beautiful
 to see someone that was still,
 like, wide open
 and embracing masculinity
 with the body that they have
 as opposed to
changing who they are
to fit the stereotypical male.
When's the last time
you cut your hair?
- It's kind of
a long time ago.
For the new year
I think it was actually, like,
right after I got
my first shot of testosterone
I totally shaved my whole head
'cause I just--
it was kind of like,
you know, the Mulan thing,
like,
cut your hair
for new beginnings.
So I shaved it all,
and I haven't touched it
or cut it since.
- I've always thought that
that movie was about
a trans man, so.
- Mm-hmm.
- There you go.
- Same.
- She says, "When will
my reflection show
who I am inside?"
- Yeah.
- Hmm.
- Hmm.
Exactly, I loved that movie
so much when I was a kid.
♪ ♪
 - It's just--
 it's like a moment.
 It just takes a moment.
 They take off the cape
 and they just--they shake
 all of this other
 [...] off, you know?
 The--yes, physically the hair
 that I just cut from them
 comes off as well,
 but it's like they shake off
 everything that they thought
 that they were or anything
 that they've been told
 that they are
 and they're just like
 "This is who I am right now."
 [upbeat music]
♪ ♪
 I'd seen Jessica-Jean
 at the center all the time,
 and she knows what she wants
 and she goes for it.
 She had the exact
 brand of orange
 that she wanted me to get
 to dye the extensions
 and her hair with.
- Oh, my God.
This is gorgeous.
- I told you a little bit is,
like, I'm homeless,
so I live
off clothing donations.
I'm hoping to get more
of a professional look.
- People say, "Oh, fashion,
it's materialistic."
No, not when
you're going to a job.
Ooh, profesh Jess!
We need--we're ready
for our photo shoot.
- Wait, I really
love this outfit though.
- I'm so glad.
- Love the shoes.
- Jessica-Jean, come on out.
- Hey.
- In your romper.
- Oh, I like this.
It's serious enough
of an outfit
that I'm looked at
as a professional
instead of some rowdy kid
and as a punk.
Hey, babe.
- Now you have arrived.
Now you look like a boss.
Been an absolute pleasure.
♪ ♪
 - And then the second that
 we clipped those extensions in,
 she just,
 "Catwalk immediately."
- I am so ecstatic right now.
I'm like "I want to dance,
and I want to bounce."
And I'm just like,
"I want to scream
and run around
and flip my hair."
 [upbeat music]
♪ ♪
 - ♪ Oh, baby ♪
♪ ♪
 [dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Take a seat.
Wow.
You look gorgeous.
- I know, this hair.
I am dying
to just be myself now.
 I am ready to be Ashleah.
 I'm so ready.
- You know, as a makeup artist,
it makes me feel good inside
knowing that people
can present
how they feel inside
on the outside
with just something
as simple as makeup.
It's what makes you
individual.
It's how you
portray yourself.
- Nice to meet you.
I'm Lindsay.
- I'm Ashleah.
- You look gorge already,
you need me?
- Thank you.
I am trying to bring out
my inner Kylie Jenner.
- Oh, I already--oh,
your inner Kylie?
- Yeah, but be Ashleah.
- So you want to be Ash Kardash?
- Yeah.
- Now, from what you said,
I'm kind of feeling...
- Yes.
- A little bit of this.
Then we have a white
little pantsuit.
- That's mine.
- So is this what you kind
of envisioned for?
- You guys nailed it.
- [laughs]
Come on out.
Whoo!
Oh, wow.
- Oh [...].
[both laugh]
Oh, my God.
Oh [...]
this looks so--
- Is this--this is the--
You look like a celebrity.
- This is--I feel like one.
- You do.
- Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
♪ ♪
- Beautiful.
Chin down
a little bit,
lips together.
[camera shutter clicking]
[both laughing]
- Oh, my God.
- You look so beautiful.
- I feel beautiful.
- Nice.
[clapping]
♪ ♪
 - You know, I actually
 learn more from them
 than they probably
 learn from me.
 They teach me about what
 acceptance means, you know?
 When I was their age,
 I didn't have
 the same level
 of acceptance for myself.
 And now to see it fully
 realized in young people,
 that's so empowering.
And it gives me the drive
to continue doing this work.
[cheers and applause]
When I transitioned
when I was 16 years old,
I was in the foster care system.
And I was given an ultimatum
by my foster mother.
She told me that either
you can come home
and live with me as a boy
or you can go back out
into the world
and you can't live with me.
And I had to choose
between safety
and permanency and wellbeing
and actually my gender identity.
And that's a decision no child
or young person
should ever have to make.
[funky music]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪ ♪
[cheers and applause]
 - You know, I saw a lot
 of parents this week
 that were so supportive
 of their kids,
 and I got to meet them
 and shake their hands.
And it was really difficult
to not just burst into tears
when meeting them
because there's a lot of kids
that aren't here today.
It is just so important
to love your children.
- You know, at first
I had feelings of kind of grief
that I lost
that idealistic daughter
that I thought I had
because, you know,
I always had visions
of the white wedding dress,
shopping for the wedding dress,
you know, planning the wedding,
all these girly images
and, you know,
Milo's always been Milo
and that hasn't changed.
He might look different now,
but he's still Milo inside
and I never had a daughter
from the day that he was born.
I just didn't know it yet.
- My parents...
have not met me.
My--I stopped talking to my dad
when I left Texas.
I stopped talking to my mom
when I moved here.
They haven't met me.
 - The next morning I got out
 of bed very slowly,
but they gave me
the power to do it.
The kids, the day before
and knowing
that I had more youth to work
with that day
 gave me the power
 to get up and go.
 [upbeat music]
♪ ♪
 - [singing in foreign language]
♪ ♪
- And I feel like
we changed some minds
and we changed a lot
for a few key youth.
But there are so many more.
 [upbeat music]
♪ ♪
Yes, check out
your new manellis.
- My first manellis.
I look like a Chelsea girl.
- Yeah!
- I like it.
- Awesome.
[hairdryer whirring]
Anthony, how are you today?
Yeah?
[clippers buzzing]
- When's the last time
you had a haircut?
- A while.
- I have some shampoo
I'm gonna give you anyway.
- Okay.
- And a little brush
that you can use as well.
I know how I feel
when I get a haircut.
- Yeah, you feel fresh.
You feel happy.
You're like, "Yes.
I can actually
land this job interview."
- Right.
Exactly.
- Okay, you brought it
back to life, girl.
- Right?
- You brought my hair
back to life.
 [somber music]
♪ ♪
 - ♪ Can you feel it
 in your chest? ♪
 ♪ I can taste it on my toe ♪
 ♪ Tie a word,
 we tried our best ♪
 ♪ Can't recall where it came ♪
 [somber music continues]
♪ ♪
 - Okay, so this is the Beast.
 The Beast is my pet.
[laughs]
The Beast is my trailer.
I call her my pet.
She's in transition
right now herself,
and yes, female
is her preferred pronoun.
So "she," "her," "hers"
for the Beast.
 She's an old-school
 Air Stream trailer
 I'm building out
 to take Project Q on the road
so that I don't have to
lug my backpack
and my suitcase
and, you know, my roll-on.
I could just pull up
into shelters anywhere
and service homeless
and queer youth.
The swivel chair will be here
in front of the mirror
and the shampoo bowl
so people can lean back
and get their head shampooed.
[grunts]
 I'm definitely
 sacrificing it all to the Beast
 at this moment.
Make her feel beautiful again,
like always.
 If I'm not working
 behind the chair,
 I'm working
 on the Beast physically
 or I'm doing grant writing
 so that I can get money
 for the Beast.
 It's every single moment
 of the day.
 Every time that I think
 like, "Okay,
 this is it, like,
 I can't do it anymore,"
I think back to when
I really thought that,
you know, I was gonna
get killed at home
and I still woke up
every morning,
you know, bleeding or not.
And so...
I made it through then,
and I'm a lot stronger now.
 [dreamy music]
♪ ♪
 - The confidence
 that I feel right now,
 I feel like it's--
 I've never felt it before,
 and it's a real good feeling.
 Waking up today was, like,
 the best feeling ever.
♪ ♪
 - I don't need
 to have everything
 figured out about myself.
 We all discover ourselves,
 our personalities,
 and our desires
 over a lifetime.
♪ ♪
 - Volunteering with
 the L.A. LGBT Center
 is so important to me
 because they're the people
 that saved me.
 I'm feeling very sexy
 right now.
 This jumpsuit is amazing,
 and it's really comfortable.
 I feel like I look
 especially presentable
 'cause I get judged a lot
 because I am homeless.
 When people look at me
 I want them to see a happy,
 brave person.
 It's not about having
 a professional team of stylists
 to make you feel great.
 It's about you doing
 whatever you need
 to make you feel the most you.
 You being happy with you.
 - Someone's being read
 95% now as female
 that you don't exactly even
 really remember the last time
 I was misgendered.
 You can be whoever you want.
 Choose your pronouns.
 Choose your identity.
 Go in whichever bathroom
 you want to use.
 You can't live your life
 not doing what you want to do.
♪ ♪
 - Normally I wouldn't have
 the confidence to go out
 to an arcade to play games,
 but today I felt just so much
 happier and more confident.
 It felt like the stylists
 there were able to guide me
 and make me feel more brave
 about choosing
 which clothes I wanted to wear.
- I got it!
- Yeah.
- I told you I was good at this!
 The haircut just made me feel
 so much more masculine.
 It's really dapper, and I feel
 like I look really good.
 - It's just a process,
 and that's just how it is.
 - It's a long process.
 - I used to feel like
 my spirit animal
 would be an opossum
 because it's quiet,
 kind of hides around.
 I feel more like a bird now,
 just free to do
 whatever it wants to do.
 Like, just fly.
♪ ♪
 narrator: So now we know
 all about our unique
 gender identities.
 Isn't that just swell?
 But what do you do
 when others try to force you
 into the gender binary?
 Well, you can tell them
 to take their backward ideas
 and shove them
 up their [bleep].
 - ♪ Sauce in my bag, swag ♪
 ♪ I see it, I want it, I stunt,
 yellow-bone it ♪
 ♪ I dream it, I work hard,
 I grind till I own it ♪
 ♪ I twirl on them haters,
 albino alligators ♪
 ♪ El Camino with the seat low,
 sippin' Cuervo with no chaser ♪
 ♪ Sometimes I go off,
 I go off ♪
 ♪ I go hard,
 I go hard ♪
 ♪ Get what's mine,
 take what's mine ♪
 ♪ I'm a star,
 I'm a star ♪
 ♪ 'Cause I slay,
 I slay ♪
 ♪ I slay, I slay ♪
- Oh, I'm Janine.
[jabbering]
[laughs]
 - ♪ I slay ♪
 ♪ We gon' slay,
 gon' slay ♪
 ♪ We slay,
 I slay ♪
