Tyra Banks Producing Trans Docuseries Starring Carmen Carerra

By Dodai Stewart | May 16, 2014 | 5:00pm

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Tyra Banks is teaming up with VH1 for a series titled TransAmerica.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

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The eight-episode docuseries will chronicle a group of Chicago women united by the shared experience of being transgender. The series is described as an earnest look at a group of millennial women — who happen to be transgender — living, loving and building their careers. The series will explore how their sexuality impacts their lives.

Activist/model/former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Carmen Carrera will be a host/guide on the series, leading the five women through the series. One is a student applying to graduate school; one works for a cosmetics brand and is trying to reconnect with her family; one is a “party girl”; and one dreams of being a doctor.

VH1, like MTV and LOGO, is a Viacom property, and the networks are comitted to including trans people: Laverne Cox produced and starred on aVH1 show called TRANSform Me, and she’s working on an MTV/LOGO documentary called Trans Teen. LOGO had a series called Transamerican Love Story.

Hopefully, this series will entertain and educate, since our society continues to struggle with accepting and understanding people who are transgender. Just this morning we got this email from a reader:

A local tampa bay radio station, WILD 94.1, had a segment on the new reality TV show TransAmerica. The show is about the life of a transgendered male-to-female woman. One of the hosts Davi (pronounced Dah-v) was going on about how weird it was, and kept referring to the model as a “he”. I sent a text about the political correctness, and the response from the studio shocked me.

Disgusting. Ignorant.

But TransAmerica might open some eyes.

“It would be easy to focus on the transgender aspect, but this series is about so much more,” said Susan Levison, executive vp programming for VH1. “This is a show about a group of compelling, gorgeous young friends who are on a unique journey while staying true to their authentic selves. We believe that message resonates.”

Carmen Carrera puts it this way: “Being a woman means everything to me. Before my transition I felt trapped, and now I’ve been set free. Carmen has arrived and I can’t wait to share my story.”

Images via Getty.