The Hermaphrodite: Ron B.

Many may know Ron B. from her appearances in Law & Order and Angels in America, or Broadway plays like She Got Away. Others may have seen her perform as Tina Turner at Oxygen in the Village or for children with HIV/AIDS in Staten Island. Many more may be familiar with Ron B.'s activism work. But who is, really, Ron B.?

The Ron B. people know today is really "a catalyst" of everything that defines her as an entertainer, actor, celebrity impersonator, activist for the rights of people who have been discriminated against, and trans-individual. The transition has started early on in Ron B.'s life and it's ongoing. “I think many transgender people feel that way very early in life,” Ron B. comments. “I think at the age of three I felt I was different. Didn’t understand it [at the time], but [it] always was different.” Ron B.'s "culture shock" happened when she was 12, when her mother found a diary in which Ron B. was writing about her crush on a boy sitting in the same class, as any girl would have a crush on a boy. "I was so shocked, I didn't know what to say," the entertainer recalls. Yet the weigh lifted off her shoulders when her mother, always "the driving force" in her life, accepted her child regardless of how Ron B. felt and encouraged the future entertainer to follow her dreams, to become all that she could become. Ron B.'s father was a different story.

“Gender-wise really should be between the ears and not between the legs,” Ron B. comments. That is important because many transgender individuals tragically take their own lives because they’re not accepted within their family circles. Only recently people have started to come to terms with the trans-communty, though many still consider trans-individuals "freaks" or "street-walkers." And Ron B. is determined to prove these theories wrong and show the truth about the trans-individuals, that they are productive citizens of the community who ask to be respected.

Transgender individuals have to deal with the fact that they are trapped, uncomfortable with their own bodies. Many, like Ron B., try to deny this feeling yet, by denial doesn't make it go away, but rather turns it into a shadow, always following them. Denying one’s true identity can also lead to depression. It took Ron B. many years of therapy to get to accept the real person within. The entertainer suggests professional help to any young person who may think is transgender.

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