The Collegian
Friday, March 29, 2024

Transgender activist/entertainer performs at Richmond

Kris Grey was assigned female at birth.

Emphasis on the word "assigned." Grey avoids saying he was born female. Grey is transgender. He sports a mustache and has undergone breast removal surgery. On Tuesday, March 14, Grey told a University of Richmond audience that he displays multiple personas: Kris Grey, Kristin Grey and Justin Credible.

Grey identifies as neither male nor female, but doesn't feel he was born in the wrong body. Many people call him by female pronouns, many people call him by male pronouns and others switch back and forth, he said.

"When I say I am trans-identified, it is a part of my core identity," Grey said. "It is something that I use to be able to place myself out of that male-female binary."

Gray called himself as an artist, activist, speaker, and entertainer. He is a third year ceramics graduate student at Ohio University and received his undergraduate degree at Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore.

Grey was a prolific drag queen in Baltimore between 2004 and 2009 when he was living as a masculine woman, he said. The artist used the pseudonym "Justin Credible" during his performances. He said he derived the name after hearing a story from an acquaintance about her sleazy brother who used bad pickup lines on women at the bars.

"He would say, 'My name's Justin, Justin Credible.'" Grey said. "I thought, 'that's it! I'm going to steal that right now.' I have been working Justin into Kris and Kristen. It's like a braid- they're overlapping at this point."

On Wednesday, March 15, Grey stood in the University of Richmond's Forum holding a sign that said, "ASK A TRANNY." He began his "Ask a Tranny" performances during a study abroad trip to Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park, London, he said. Speaker's Corner is an area devoted to open-air public speaking, debate and discussion. Many speakers carry signs in the area to prompt conversation, Grey said.

The aim of the performance coincides with his theory of "transvisibility," degree to which he allows the public to understand his gender identification, he said. Grey said he works to challenge the "wrong body narrative" that all transgenders feel as if they have been born into the wrong gender binary.

"Being forced into identifying as being born in the wrong body makes you feel pathologized," Grey said.

Challenging this wrong body narrative has positioned Grey as an activist within his own community. Grey said he would like to see gender variance, body modifications and self-actualization as part of the spectrum of human diversity.

"You show up for a tattoo - its permanent, it's going to alter your body - and you don't have to bring a couple of doctors' notes," Grey said. "You show up for top surgery and you better have your ducks in a row."

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Recently, he addressed the Ohio University Student Senate about the lack of health care coverage and provision for transgender students. Grey said his proposed modification would include a simple change in language, making sexual reassignment treatments, including hormone therapy and surgeries, covered by the university's health care. Grey said he took out loans to pay for his $5784.36 bilateral mastectomy, or "top surgery," which he underwent in 2010. The university health care didn't cover the surgery, he said.

Grey said he attends therapy, not because he needs help navigating his own transgender lifestyle, but because he needs to figure out how to navigate the public's perception of his transgender identity. He also said he uses art to explore his identity as a transgender.

During the talk on campus, organized by Women Involved in Living and Learning (WILL), Grey showed the crowd his artwork. He showed a video of himself standing silently naked in a hallowed plaster cast of his nude body before his top surgery.

Maya Tatro, a junior, said that his artwork had been eye opening. "His art is so unique and makes such a statement, which is refreshing to see in a time when everybody tries to be politically correct," she said.

Lucy Barrett, a junior, said Grey was one of the best speakers she had seen during her time in WILL.

"Often we discuss the spectrum of sexuality, but it's rare that people bring up the possible spectrum of gender," Barrett said.

Creating a spectrum of gender is the essence of Grey's transvisibility theory. He said he hoped society would eventually release the constraints of hyper-masculinity and hyper-femininity. For now, Grey said he would challenge these constraints one "Ask a Tranny" performance at a time.

Contact staff writer Jenna Robinson at jenna.robinson@richmond.edu

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