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]
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]
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]
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, Esquire, GQ, Glamour, Playboy, The Atlantic, VICE, [14] and other publications.
In 2019 and 2020, McBee wrote episodes for Netflix's Tales of the City and Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q. [15] He has also appeared on the documentary film No Ordinary Man and the mini-series The Art of Intersection. [15]
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. [16] 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]
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, [17] as well as positive reviews from Kirkus, [18] The New Republic, [19] Buzzfeed, [20] Booklist, [21] The Rumpus, [22] The Guardian, [23] Los Angeles Review of Books, [24] and Shelf Awareness. [25] [26]
Amateur was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction, [27] nominated for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, [28] and shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize.
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, [29] Kirkus Reviews, [30] Lambda Literary Foundation, [31] and Library Journal. [32]
Man Alive won a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction. [2] [3]
Year | Work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Amateur | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Finalist | [27] |
Wellcome Book Prize | Shortlist | [33] [34] | ||
2018 | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction | Shortlist | [35] | |
2015 | Man Alive | American Library Association Over the Rainbow Project List | Top 10 | [36] |
2014 | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Winner | [37] |
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]
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]
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]
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, Esquire, GQ, Glamour, Playboy, The Atlantic, VICE, [14] and other publications.
In 2019 and 2020, McBee wrote episodes for Netflix's Tales of the City and Showtime's The L Word: Generation Q. [15] He has also appeared on the documentary film No Ordinary Man and the mini-series The Art of Intersection. [15]
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. [16] 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]
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, [17] as well as positive reviews from Kirkus, [18] The New Republic, [19] Buzzfeed, [20] Booklist, [21] The Rumpus, [22] The Guardian, [23] Los Angeles Review of Books, [24] and Shelf Awareness. [25] [26]
Amateur was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction, [27] nominated for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, [28] and shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize.
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, [29] Kirkus Reviews, [30] Lambda Literary Foundation, [31] and Library Journal. [32]
Man Alive won a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction. [2] [3]
Year | Work | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | Amateur | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Finalist | [27] |
Wellcome Book Prize | Shortlist | [33] [34] | ||
2018 | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction | Shortlist | [35] | |
2015 | Man Alive | American Library Association Over the Rainbow Project List | Top 10 | [36] |
2014 | Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction | Winner | [37] |