Vanessa Vogue??

I was born on January 10, 1968 and yes this makes me a Capricorn. I grew up in northwest Tennessee in a town called Greenfield, near Memphis TN. I was born to the first name of Trent. The son of a Baptist minister, I grew up in a Christian home. I have wonderful parents and two great sisters, and am very thankful for the love they have shown me.

Ever since I was a little boy everyone would say how pretty of a girl I was. I remember that my mother was so quick to correct people and tell them I was her son and not a girl. Thinking back to the first years of realizing that I was different takes me back to kindergarten days. This was when I first realized that I wasn’t a girl but a little boy. I was very confused about this, and remember going home and telling my mother. She of course tried to comfort me in the way a mother does and I let the situation go.

Then throughout the elementary and Jr. High years there were re-occurring times and situations of “being different”. I experienced feelings that I didn’t understand, other than I am different, but why??? Being so sheltered, growing up in a rural community in a Southern Baptist home, I was so limited on information about life issues. Approaching my pre-teen years and on into my freshmen year of high school was when I really was most aware of my feelings. I was also dealing with the changes with my body, and realizing about sex and about being attracted to other boys and not girls.

I had my first sexual encounter at the age of fifteen years of age. This continued on for about a year, and I for the first time experienced love. I thought from this, and what had happened between me and my first lover, that I had to be homosexual. I hid this and dealt with these feelings on my own. I sought out other friends who were gay, and made these select people my new friends. In school I was very active, belonging to many clubs. I was a member of the marching band and on the rifle line too. I loved to sing and was a member of the chorus and also theater club. I also attended modeling school and modeled for a span of three years.

I realized that I wasn’t the manly type of male model that agencies were looking for…I tried so hard to conform to how everyone wanted me to be, but their was no hiding the woman inside of me. I had such feminine ways about myself, my voice, and my mannerisms. I even had a girlfriend for awhile but that was for a cover-up. I was what you would call a Pretty Boy.

I went thru a lot of harassment thru my high school days. Other students shouted ugly things about me (calling me by the name of Trena and not Trent), flattened my car tires, and got me into in numerous fights that I never started but was punished for.

No one can ever truly understand how this hurt me so badly, but still to this day I can’t help still having hard feelings towards certain people who destroyed some of the best years of my life. I realized I had to let it go and that life is unfair. But I can understand how some kids can get to the breaking point. Others don’t realize how this harassment can drive you over the edge. But hopefully this made me a stronger woman.

After graduating from high school I attended college for one semester, but decided to drop out due to the fact once again I didn’t fit in, and I started having similar situations from high school days reoccurring now in college.

I then decided to attend Beauty School and received a cosmetology license. After that I moved to Memphis, TN, and began living my life. This was the point where I found acceptance from others like myself. I went to the famous gay bar in Memphis called George’s on Marshall in the 80's.

I walked in and laid eyes on one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Her name was Veronica York, starring in the documentary ‘’What Sex Am I’‘. I for the first time became aware of transsexual women. Soon after that I started my career as a drag star. My theatrical and musical background had prepared me for stage and with the help of a friend (Jimmy Givens) a star was born: “Miss Vanessa Vogue”. I went on to a successful drag career working on several show casts, head-lining shows and as mistress of ceremonies, and also won pageants with some titles including Miss Paducah, KY, 1987, Miss Gay Memphis, TN 1989, runner-up to Miss Gay Tennessee 1990 and also Miss Gay Kentucky 1988.

Story Continues...