Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen

Jennings, Jazz. Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen. 2016. 272p. 240 mins. ISBN 9780399554643. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Born a boy, Jazz always knew that she really was a girl. She loved dressing up as a girl, even as a baby, and eventually convinced her parents it was not a phase. Jazz begin the transitioning process to become a girl at age five, at a time when there was no one to guide them through the process. Jazz and her family had to fight to access her favored bathroom, to overcome a misguided school dress code, and to fully be allowed to participate in organized sports like soccer.

As an advocate for transgendered youths, Jazz blazed the trail with interviews with Barbara Walters on the television show 20/20, and participated in several conferences as a panelist. Named as one of the youngest persons ever on Time’s top 100 people list, she met with President Obama, and was named as a youth ambassador by Human Rights Campaign. Active on Youtube and in several causes that fight to LGBTQ rights, Jazz is an inspiration for, as she says herself, just living her life.

A great tale of perseverance and acceptance, Jazz continues today to stand up for those who need it most and help teach what tolerance and true love really mean.