TransLash Podcast with Imara Jones

Today’s episode is all about The Twinks vs. Dolls Olympics, a gnarly, nasty, and very queer competition that’s taken New York—and the world—by storm. Twinks vs. Dolls was created in 2022 by the Brooklyn gay bar Singers; videos of the lube wrestling and cigarette smoking contests from that year went viral. Since then, it’s exploded in size and notoriety and similar queer physical contests have sprung up all across the country. Today, we’re speaking with Twinks vs. Dolls co-creator Erik Escobar and 2025 champion Tasi Taimanglo to get the inside scoop. This week’s Trans Joy features Madeline Clere, a Junior Vocal Instructor at the Seattle Voice Lab, which specializes in voice lessons for trans students looking to experiment with or change their voice. Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Tasi Taimanglo on Instagram (@tasinyc / @tranmagazinenyc)Follow Erik Escobar on Instagram (@eeeeeeeeeeeeeeerik)Follow Singers on Instagram and Letterboxd (@SingersNY) Follow Madeline Clere on TikTok (@madeclere) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With trans people under attack like never before, trans people need to be resourced like never before. Today, we’re hearing from two people working hard to secure those resources. Elisa Crespo is the Executive Director of the Stonewall Community Foundation, a nonprofit that invests in LGBTQ+ organizations, projects, and leaders. Rickke Mananzala is the President of New York Foundation, which funds community organizing and grassroots advocacy led by and for people who live in NYC. Both Elisa and Rickke draw on their identities and ties to their communities to inspire their work.This week’s Trans Joy features Randy Truong, a Memphis-based organizer and civic changemaker.Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Elisa Crespo on Instagram (@elisacre_)Follow New York Foundation on Instagram (@thenewyorkfoundation)Follow Randy Truong on Instagram (@r.andytruong) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we explore the controversy surrounding Amy Sherald’s painting Trans Forming Liberty, which depicts a Black trans woman posing as the Statue of Liberty.In the summer of 2025, Amy Sherald canceled her highly anticipated and historic exhibition, American Sublime, at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery after Sherald said she faced pressure from museum officials to remove Trans Forming Liberty and show a video of it instead.Rather than compromise, Sherald pulled the show and brought American Sublime to the Baltimore Museum of Art, where it became the museum’s most attended exhibition since 2000, drawing more than 80,000 visitors.Explaining her decision, Sherald said, “The video would have opened up for debate the value of trans visibility, and I was opposed to that being a part of the American Sublime narrative.”First, we hear from Grace Byron, an art critic who wrote about the chilling effect of Trump’s anti-trans executive orders on trans artists in a piece for the New Yorker called “The War on Trans Art.” Then, we hear from the model depicted in Trans Forming Liberty, Arewà Basit, who is also an artist herself.This week’s Trans Joy features Gericault De La Rose, a Chicago-based artist.Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Grace Byron on social media (@emotrophywife)Follow Arewà Basit on Instagram (@arewabasit)Follow Gericault De La Rose on Instagram (@im.ubae) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Imara sits down for a vulnerable conversation with Minnesota State Representative Leigh Finke, the first trans woman ever elected to the MN House of Representatives. In her time in office, Finke has focused on policies that expand housing and healthcare access and cement civil rights protections, most notably a trans refuge law that includes some of the strongest legal protections for gender-affirming care in the nation.But Rep. Finke’s time in office has been filled with turmoil. In June of last year, her friend and MN House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in a politically motivated murder. And, more recently, Minneapolis was besieged by ICE, which resulted in the killing of two citizens. In this episode, Rep. Finke gets real about how hard it is to be a trans legislator in today’s political environment and what motivates her to keep fighting.This week’s Trans Joy features Trina Tate, an educator who develops mindfulness curricula for public school students.Send your Trans Joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] org Follow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)Follow Representative Leigh Finke on Instagram (@leighformn)Follow Trina Tate on Instagram (@pillowwizard) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it mean to be seen by millions and still be figuring out who you are? For multi-hyphenate artist Dylan Mulvaney, it means letting go of the pressure to be palatable.Dylan was already a touring theater actress when she  first gained global attention on TikTok with her viral series Days of Girlhood and has worn many hats since, including a playwright and now, a Broadway performer.This week on the TransLash Podcast, Imara Jones sits down with Dylan for a wide-ranging conversation about her journey from internet sensation to starring as Anne Boleyn Six the Musical and what it means to step into her next chapter on her own terms.Dylan opens up about what people often get wrong about her rise,  how she’s always been a theater kid at heart and in practice and how social media both created opportunity and challenged her sense of self. Together, Imara and Dylan explore the tension between visibility and privacy, the pressure to be “palatable,” and what it means to move from people-pleasing to self-definition while exploring why softness and earnestness can be powerful in a cynical world.This week’s Trans Joy features Ticket Knowlton, a theater director, dramaturg and dancer from Atlanta, Georgia. Send your trans joy recommendations to translash_podcast @ translash [dot] orgFollow  Dylan Mulvaney on Instagram &  TikTok: @dylanmulvaneyFollow TransLash Media @translashmedia on TikTok, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, and Facebook.Follow Imara Jones on Instagram (@Imara_jones_), Threads (@imara_jones_), Bluesky (@imarajones.bsky.social), X (@ImaraJones)You can get tickets to see Dylan in Six the Musical here: https://www.broadway.com/shows/six Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.