http://youtube.com/watch?v=b1arJPa4sn4
Shawna is trans. More on her at: http://www.gaywired.com/article.cfm?section=76&id=13690
Excerpt:
Having starred in several underground movies, Virago is adamant, “Hollywood could never portray a trans woman like myself, or like most of the trans people I know. Hence the importance of festivals like Tranny Fest.”
The Transgender/Transgenre Film Festival, affectionately known as TrannyFest (www.trannyfest.com), is dedicated to supporting work made by and for transgender and genderqueer people and, every November, offers screenings, performances and a visual arts show. Recently, when TrannyFest founders Al Austin and Christopher Lee retired from the world's first transgender film festival, Virago (who co-directed the event in 2003) stepped in to take over. The filmmaker says this year’s Tranny Fest will be smart, sexy, and naughty, “just like it always is.”
Although she is better known for her music than her social justice work, it could easily be the other way around. As an activist, Virago served on San Francisco’s Transgender Human Rights Task Force, co-chaired the Transgender Political Caucus sponsored by the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, and co-founded TransAction, a grassroots organization formed to expose and end police violence against the transgender community.
Virago was the first trans woman to serve on the board of directors for San Francisco Woman Against Rape, which provides resources, support, advocacy and education to end sexual violence. Her work there expressed her contention that trans women face the same violence as other women.
