Manifesto of a Tranny

by Brian Dawn Chalkley

I am not for the respectable face of drag, as parody, as vaudevlle, as family entertainment. I am not for the transsexual who wants to be accepted as a real woman and fit comfortably within society. I am for the tranny standing on Polk Street in San Francisco servicing the early morning workforce. I am for the badly applied make-up. I am for the mirrored excess of beauty. I am for the void between the imagined and the so-called real. I am for the painful lack of. I am for the broken aesthetic of the desirable. I am for the masquerade. I am for the attempt at the imagined. I am for the attempt at the desired. I am for the fake fur coat. I am for badly applied false eyelashes. I am for badly applied eyeliner. I am for ill-fitting plastic tits. I am for the john desperate for a fuck. I am for the john who can no longer get it up with his wife. I am for liars and con artists. I am for the john who gropes me in the dark. I am for the tranny waiting for her pay cheque for the john who says he loves her. I am for the tranny who get me to buy a slice of pizza because she has no money. I am for the tranny whose cheap lipstick mixes with the tomato sauce. I am for the tranny whose make-up has smeared through giving too many blowjobs. I am for the tranny who likes being fucked in the dark. I am for the tranny after a night out standing in the queue for a salt-beef sandwich in El. I am for the john who likes to watch me dance. I am for the john who wants to take me to a classy restaurant. I am for the john who thinks I am beautiful. I am for the tranny who looks in the mirror and feels shit. I am for the tranny who feels and looks like a movie star. I am for the tranny who gets home without a fuck. I am for the tranny who looks like my aunt. I am for the tranny who gets slapped around when the fuck goes wrong. I am for the tranny who can't go out. I am for the tranny who says fuck you.
I am for the seventy-year-old tranny dancing on the podium. I am for the tranny who walks down the street in daylight. I am for the tranny who shops in M&S. I am for the john who says I am not gay, I just like trannies. I am for the tranny who goes to work with last night's mascara. I am for the tranny who longs for a permanent relationship. I ma for the tranny whose persona is an act of survival. I am for the tranny whose persona is fuck you. I am for the tranny who stays in the dark room all night. I am for the tranny who gets her bag stolen in a porn cinema. I am for the tranny standing on the street waiting for the AA. I am for the AA man who says you look great, can I help you into the cab? I am for the tranny who likes threesomes. I am for the tranny who can't tell his wife. I am for the wife who doesn't know. I am for the john who did two years for GHB and now works as a carer. I am for the john who has a high-powered job with HSBC. I am for the john who says I wish I had met you before I got married. I am for the john who says I will phone you and never does. I am for the tranny who works 9-5 and goes clubbing every night. I am for the tranny who says I love you and doesn't mean it. I am for the trannywho longs to wear her wife's clothes. I am for the tranny who goes out with nerds, trainspotters, anoracks and criminals. I am for the tranny who arrives home from work and puts on a dress. I am for the tranny who can't see the analyst any more because he's shit. I am for the tranny who wants to be loved. I am for the tranny who dresses to stop the pain. I am for the tranny washing the cum off her skirt.

More on Brian Dawn Chalkley:
video of Brian performing Manifesto of a Tranny
audio clip
his book, Dawn in Wonderland
visual art and visual art

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Quoted: Gene Lyons

"A 'journalist,' so-called, is anybody paid by a media organization to enact the role on television." --Gene Lyons

Reclaiming's Spiral Dance

The 30th Anniversary
This Saturday
Kezar Pavilion
San Francisco

Pageant!!!

This fine drag documentary which all queens must own becomes available on dvd tomorrow. Order. press play. repeat step 2.

Sandra Bernhard at the Rrazz Room