Geena Rocero (1983-Present)
“When I moved to the United States [from the Philippines] in 2001, I experienced a more rigid concept of gender, but somehow I was allowed to change my name and my gender marker. Why is there that paradox? How do I get those two things to be the same?” - Geena Rocero on transexuality in America
Model and activist of Gender Proud, a program that is trying to change the public perception of transgender people, Geena Rocero was born and raised in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Rocero describes herself as being assigned a boy at birth, but was born a female. Even as a young child, she would place long t-shirts on her head and pretend it was long, beautiful hair.
At the age of fifteen, Rocero began entering transgender beauty pageants. In the Philippines, she describes the gender fluidity that is widely accepted in current society, as well as ingrained in the culture. In Buddhism, Guan Yin is Goddess of Compassion who is sacred to men who wanted to be cured of impotence and to women who want to become pregnant. This accepted idea of gender fluidity stops at politics.
In 2005, Rocero was traveling through Tokyo. She presented herself as a woman, but her Philippines passport still identified her former male gender marker. While traveling, she was taken at the airport to the immigration office and interrogated for hours on her self-identification. This was a year before she became a United States citizen, where she was able to change her gender marker. Those who still live in the Philippines with a Philippines passport do not have the opportunity or laws in place to change their gender marker or name. When transgender people travel, they are left to be dehumanized and interrogated on their sexual identity every time they want to travel.
It wasn’t until Rocero moved to America and started working as a model that she finally had that opportunity to change her name and gender marker. Though a freeing experience, she was aware this was only the beginning. Rocero believes there is a very rigid idea of gender in the Western world. This exists alongside progressive legal systems that afford transgender individuals some limited rights. “I believe that a more mature and in-depth contemplation of the subject of transgender will be the bridge that leads humanity to a deeper understanding of gender as a whole. This deeper understanding begins with the realization that we live in a culture that assigned us gender at birth and that the appropriate roles and expectations of our gender are defined by our society and our culture.” Rocero’s organization, Gender Proud, continues to work to advance the rights of all transgender individuals.”