Gina Lance is the former publisher of Girl Talk
Magazine, current producer of TGLife.com, and too fabulous for words.
< Helen with much shorter hair, and Gina in all her nearly 5’11” glory.
1) As a public person, does “being Gina Lance” ever get in the way of your life?
First of all Helen, thank you for asking me to participate in your ‘infamous’ Five Questions! As far as being recognized as Gina Lance, it’s very flattering to be noticed for the work you have done. When I had a local crossdressing television talk show in Los Angeles back in 1997, I realized how many people were watching because they approached me wherever I was. After I launched GIRL TALK Magazine, it just exploded. I’ve had people too numerous to mention tell me everything from I saved their lives, to I was the one responsible for getting them out of the closet. It’s very heartwarming and I do appreciate it.
As far as the downside of being Gina Lance it’s mostly comical. I’ve been cornered by people who wanted to talk to me (very flattering!) for almost an hour on my way into a nightclub in Los Angeles. I love meeting people but one girl had to even pull her blouse up and show me her new breasts. She said I had inspired her and given her the confidence to get them. Somehow, I don’t remember writing/suggesting that. I’ve had people tell me everything from they’re on hormones to they’re getting their sex change because of me. So I’m usually very careful what I write about now; I see myself as a transgendered ambassador of good will, not a physician!
One of the former GIRL TALK covergirls, Jillian Diamond, looks like my younger, shorter daughter, but she is occasionally mistaken for me by people who don’t know us. I think the funniest thing was when some girl called her a ‘bitch’ for not using her as a covergirl, thinking she was me.
All in all though, I love being Gina Lance. But I also love being my male self and I think that’s very important in keeping me balanced. My wife, KC, loves both of me which is fantastic. Although we steal each other’s makeup occasionally. In male mode I just don’t tell everyone who I am and love being anonymous sometimes – it gives me a break to clear my mind. I recently chatted with Cassandra Peterson who people know as Elvira and we both agreed it is great to go unrecognized when you want to. It gives you some time to relax.
2) I hear you’ve decided to pursue the glamorous life of a writer. Oh, wait – that can’t be. Either you’re pursuing a glamorous life or you’re writing – which is it?
The glamorous life of a writer? I think that’s a contradiction of terms. Writing isn’t very glamorous but I love it. One time a promotional picture of me was published; I was wearing a bathing suit in a swimming pool smiling with a martini in my hand. You can’t imagine how many people came up to me for years claiming my life was just one of leisure! I guess they missed out on all of the fourteen-hour days it took to publish a magazine. Still, I love writing. I was in the music business for years and wrote rock n’ roll songs. Then I became a comedy writer for FOX television in the 1980’s. I always tell people that was a good training ground for being a TG editor/columnist because I can laugh at myself, which I think is important. You can only take life so seriously. I ghost wrote twenty four columns in a TG newspaper in the late 1990’s for Jim Bridges because he was too scattered (but loveable) to write them. Then I began GIRL TALK Magazine which I edited for five and a half years. Now I am editor-in-chief of TG LIFE, www.tglife.com, and work with about two dozen other columnists.
I love to find interesting stories and interview people. That’s the most fun for me. As for my editorials, mostly I try to preach common sense and positive thinking.
Right now TG LIFE has taken off and I’m extremely busy. But I also have a book coming out in early 2006. It’s titled “Get Dressed!†and I think it will be fun, and informative for those who read it. Yes, it’s about what I think and there are some funny stories about my life in the last ten years. And I’m sure I’ll piss some people off and probably get some hate mail from those I consider phonies. But I think it will also help a lot of people who are trying to come to grips with being transgendered. I know I wish I would have had a book like it when I was discovering my female self!
One glamorous offshoot of TG LIFE that is in the works is a television show that I will be hosting. It’s a cross between the Tonight Show and an out of control Hollywood party. Several of the TG LIFE columnists are involved and we’ll have guest stars and be taping in Los Angeles sometime in the spring. It will be shown in the TG LIFE Lounge section which broadcasts internet television, and will also be available as a DVD and probably broadcast on one of the cable networks. That… should be FUN!
3) What is Brianna Austin really like?
I actually first met Brianna Austin when she sent me a fan letter from Folsom Prison where she was incarcerated for crimes against farm animals. JUST KIDDING! Actually Brianna and I worked on GIRL TALK together for a few years and we became fast friends because we think so much alike. She’s a much better writer than I am but I’m a better organizer I believe in putting a magazine together. Luckily, for both of us, she’d rather have me do that while she manages the TG LIFE site and it’s a mammoth undertaking! Brianna and I usually agree on just about every subject 99% of the time so it’s really like working with my brunette twin. But she’s better technically then I am and much more tech savvy. Put it this way; I still have trouble with my TV remote let alone designing a mega website!
4) What’s up with Girl Talk?
I left/ was asked to leave/ was tossed out (pick one) of GIRL TALK Online by the person I handpicked to run it. Immediately after it’s launch, I saw the problems with the site and the new company formed to manage it and… well let’s just put it this way, the columnists and the advertisers left with me and all that remained was the skeleton of what once was the nation’s top TG magazine. It’s a shame but publishing a niche magazine is very difficult, immensely difficult, if you want to produce something that has some class and isn’t mundane. Obviously the web is the future and so that’s why Brianna and I designed TG LIFE. It’s immediate with stories changing constantly. It reaches people world wide without shipping problems. We have interviews and stories up minutes after they have been proofread! It’s at your fingertips instantly as long as your keyboard’s not a typewriter.
5) What are you up to now?
About 5’10 ½â€.