Thomas Page McBee
American writer and reporter (born 1981)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Page McBee (born 1981)[1] is an American transgender journalist, television writer, and amateur boxer. He was the first transgender man to box in Madison Square Garden,[1] which he discusses in Amateur. His first book, Man Alive, won a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction.[2][3]
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Thomas Page McBee | |
|---|---|
In a 2019 interview | |
| Born | 1981 (age 44–45) Hickory, North Carolina, US |
| Occupations | Writer, boxer |
| Spouse | Jessica Bloom |
| Website | www |
Personal life
McBee was born in Hickory, North Carolina, in 1981[1] and grew up outside of Pittsburgh.[4]
McBee has noted that he "knew [he] wasn't a girl before [he] knew much of anything."[5] However, he also did not resonate with men's "jockeying power dynamics or aversion to hugs."[5] In his late-twenties, he realized that although he "didn't connect with the cultural expectations of Being a Man, [he] knew that [he]'d grown up and become one."[5] He began hormone replacement therapy when he was 30 years old and at 31, he received a new birth certificate from North Carolina Vital Records, an experience he described as feeling like he had been "born again".[5]
As of 2022, McBee lived in Los Angeles with his wife, Jessica Bloom.[6][7]
Career
Aside from writing, McBee was a senior editor at Quartz and taught at City University of New York.[8] He has also served as an advisor at West Virginia University's Graduate School of Journalism.[8][7]
Writing
McBee has written regular columns in The Rumpus ("Self-Made Man"),[9] Them ("Amateur"),[10] Bitch,[11] Pacific Standard ("The American Man"),[12] and Teen Vogue.[13] His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, T Magazine,[14] Esquire,[15] GQ,[16] Glamour, Playboy, The Atlantic, VICE,[17] and other publications.
Television
In 2019 and 2020, McBee wrote episodes for Netflix's Tales of the City and Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q.[18] He has also appeared on the documentary film No Ordinary Man and the mini-series The Art of Intersection.[18]
In 2021, McBee was a supervising producer on The Umbrella Academy, where he architected a storyline in which Elliot Page's character transitions to male, mirroring the actor's real-world transition.[19] In 2022, he served as a writer and co-producer on the fourth season of The Umbrella Academy. He is currently developing several film and television projects, including a television adaptation for Amateur.[6]
Man Alive (2014)
Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man was published September 9, 2014, by City Lights Publishers. The book received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly,[20] Kirkus Reviews,[21] Lambda Literary Foundation,[22] and Library Journal.[23] Man Alive won a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction.[2][3]
Amateur (2018)
Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man was published August 14, 2018, by Scribner. The book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly,[24] as well as positive reviews from Kirkus,[25] The New Republic,[26] BuzzFeed,[27] Booklist,[28] The Rumpus,[29] The Guardian,[30] Los Angeles Review of Books,[31] and Shelf Awareness.[32][33] Amateur was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction,[34] nominated for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction,[35] and shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize.
Awards
| Year | Work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Man Alive | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Winner | [36] |
| 2015 | American Library Association Over the Rainbow Project List | Top 10 | [37] | |
| 2018 | Amateur | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction | Shortlist | [38] |
| 2019 | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Finalist | [34] | |
| Wellcome Book Prize | Shortlist | [39][40] |
