Nationality American Education Earlham College Role Author | Name Jacob Anderson-Minshall Occupation Author Books Blind Faith | |
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Born 14 September 1967 (age 56) ( 1967-09-14 ) Inkom, Idaho, United States | ||
Interview with diane and jacob anderson minshall
Jacob Anderson-Minshall (born September 14, 1967) is an American author.
Contents
Early life and education
Assigned as female at birth, Anderson-Minshall was raised on a farm outside of Inkom, Idaho by his Catholic family. In talking about his gender transitioning, he notes that his family was supportive of him being a tomboy and wearing clothes, playing with toys traditionally associated with boys. He cites his mother's influence in social justice issues sparking his interest since preschool, and went with his mom to women's rights, and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment. In high school he spent a year in Germany as part of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program. He also joined in anti-nuclear protests. In college, Anderson-Minshall was active in the anti-Apartheid movement opposing South Africa's system of apartheid and supporting South Africa's non-whites, and marched in support of women's reproductive rights.
He received a B.A. in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and a master's degree in Communication from Idaho State University in Pocatello.
Career
After graduating he canvassed for anti-nuclear group SANE/FREEZE and other efforts before focusing on lesbian and gays rights.
Anderson-Minshall later passed the National Park Service's law enforcement Ranger Academy becoming a park rangerin the 1990s patrolling the "forested lands above Silicon Valley, bay and ocean-side parks and rolling hills north of San Francisco." He was disabled in a work-related injury in 2003; at which point Anderson-Minshall returned to writing.
In 1994, with his lesbian partner Diane Anderson-Minshall and several friends, Anderson-Minshall co-founded the lesbian magazine Girlfriends, where he was the Circulation Director and wrote articles for several years.
As a freelance journalist, he has focused on environmental and LGBT issues and has written for numerous publications like Bitch and Curve magazines, SheWired.com and Windy City Times and Examiner.com, where he is the Portland Green Living expert. From 2005-2009, Anderson-Minshall authored the syndicated column "TransNation," which ran in LGBT publications like San Francisco Bay Times, Windy City Times, and Boston's Bay Windows.
Anderson-Minshall and his wife have co-authored the Blind Eye mystery series, including Blind Curves, Blind Leap and 2008 Lambda Literary Award finalist Blind Faith, published by Bold Strokes Books. When he signed on with the publisher, Anderson-Minshall became the first man writing for the heretofore lesbian company.
Anderson-Minshall has essays in a number of anthologies including Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power (edited by Shira Tarrant) and Trans People in Love.
His first short story, "Chinook," was published in the 2010 Lambda Literary Award finalist anthology Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City.
In 2008, Anderson-Minshall co-founded and co-hosts the talk radio show Gender Blender, one of the few transgender-hosted radio shows in the United States, on Portland, Oregon's KBOO.
In 2015, Anderson-Minshall became the first openly transgender author to win a Goldie award from the Golden Crown Literary Society; he shared the award for best creative non-fiction book with his wife Diane Anderson-Minshall for Queerly Beloved: A Love Story Across Genders.
Personal
After coming out as lesbian after college, Anderson-Minshall further came out as transgender in 2004 and began gender transitioning. He met his wife Diane at a LGBT pride rally in college, and they married March 19, 2006.