Tommy Dorfman comes out as a trans woman
22 July 2021, 15:52
"I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/her. My name is Tommy."
13 Reasons Why star Tommy Dorfman has come out as a trans woman.
Speaking to author Torrey Peters for TIME magazine, Tommy said: "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 then added: "It’s funny to think about coming out, because I haven’t gone anywhere. I view today as a reintroduction to me as a woman, having made a transition medically. 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."
Tommy, who is best-known for playing Ryan in 13 Reasons Why and Bobby in Jane the Virgin, previously came out as non-binary in 2017 but now reveals that her relationship with and understanding of her own gender has changed since then.
Discussing the past year, Tommy said: "I’ve been living in this other version of coming out where I don’t feel safe enough to talk about it, so I just do it. But I recognize that transitioning is beautiful. Why not let the world see what that looks like? So I kept, on Instagram, a diaristic time capsule instead—one that shows a body living in a more fluid space."
She continued: "With this medical transition, there has been discourse about my body, and it began to feel overwhelming. So, recently I looked to examples of others who have come out as trans. 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. But that’s not what I wanted."
Tommy then explained: "For me, personally, it’s not viable. I’m not changing my name. I’m named after my mom’s brother who passed a month after I was born, and I feel very connected to that name, to an uncle who held me as he was dying. This is an evolution of Tommy. I’m becoming more Tommy."
Tommy also admitted that she initially felt scared about how coming out would affect her career. "I’m most recognized for playing a bitchy gay poet on a soap opera, and I feared that by actively transitioning in my personal life, I would lose whatever career I’ve been told I’m supposed to have. But I’m no longer interested in playing “male” characters. Sometimes you just have to say, 'No, this is just who I f-cking am.'"
Tommy ended by saying: "One doesn’t have to medically transition to be trans, but for me, it was an active choice. I’m aligning my body with my soul. All I can do now is look to a future where I am, hopefully, just radically honest. That’s the person I am becoming."
Congratulations Tommy!