Meredith Talusan (born June 26, 1975) (pronouns: she/her/hers, they/them/theirs) is a

Filipino-American Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...

author and journalist. She is a contributing editor at ''

them. ''Them'' is an American online LGBTQ magazine launched in October 2017 by Phillip Picardi and owned by Condé Nast. Its coverage includes LGBTQ culture, fashion, and politics. History In 2017 Picardi, then the director of ''Teen Vogue'', ...

'' and released her memoir ''Fairest'' in 2020, which was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Nonfiction. Talusan has written for a variety of publications including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

VICE Magazine ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company V ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', and ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

''.

Identity

Talusan describes herself as a "queer

albino Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and reddish pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albinos. Varied use and interpretation of ...

first-generation Filipino immigrant" and identifies as a nonbinary bisexual transgender individual. She belongs to the

People of Color The term "person of color" (: people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is associated with, the United States. From th ...

(POC),

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

, and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

communities. Her relationship to and experiences with different communities and identities is a central focus of her memoir ''

airest Airest (AS Airest) is an Estonian-owned airline that started in January 2002, operating regular cargo and charter passenger flights. Company Airest (Airest Inc) is an Estonian private aviation company engaged in commercial cargo air transp ...

'. Talusan currently resides in Barryville, NY and has lived in

Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Boston, MA Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, San Francisco, CA,

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

Early life

Meredith Talusan was born and raised in the town of

San Rafael, Bulacan San Rafael, officially the Municipality of San Rafael (, Kapampangan: ''Balen ning San Rafael''), is a municipality in the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 103,097 people. Etymology Accordin ...

in the rural Philippines. She was

assigned male at birth Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the v ...

and privileged in her home country for her light skin and blond hair. At age 7, Talusan moved to

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

and began acting. Their first role in a popular sitcom that lasted until age 10 launched an acting career that ended by their early teens. Talusan reflects on their childhood fame: "My brush with fame has taught me to value the simple pleasure of moving through the world undisturbed. It also made me keenly aware not just that celebrities can never live up to people’s fantasies, but that the pressure to do so burdens those whom I admire and adore." Talusan moved to

Chino, California Chino ( ; Spanish for "Curly") is a city in the western end of San Bernardino County, California, United States, with Los Angeles County to its west and Orange County to its south in the Southern California region. Chino's surroundings ha ...

at age 15 before attending Harvard University on a scholarship. She lived as a

gay man Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included '' inverts'' and '' uranians''. Gay men conti ...

until she transitioned in 2002.

Education

Meredith Talusan graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and American Literature. She earned a Master of Arts in Comparative Literature and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in Creative Writing from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

. She also earned a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Art from

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

Relationship

Meredith Talusan is married to Josh Hanson.

Career

Talusan is a journalist and author. She was the first trans staff writer at ''BuzzFeed'' and the first trans person to hold an executive position at

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...

. She was previously the founding executive editor of ''them.'' and currently works as a contributing editor there. Talusan has written for a variety of publications and contributed to several books including ''Burn it Down'', ''Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture'', and ''Nasty Women''. Talusan's ''Mic'' feature "Unerased: Counting Transgender Lives" won a

GLAAD award The GLAAD Media Award is a US accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding portrayals of LGBTQ people and the issues that affect their lives. In addition to film and television, the Awards ...

, The Al Neuharth Award for Innovation in Investigative Journalism, and a Deadline Award from the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

in 2017. In 2016, Talusan was nominated for a GLAAD award in the Outstanding Digital Journalism Article category for her ''VICE Magazine'' article, "How the Killing of a Trans Filipina Woman Ignited an International Incident."

Book

Talusan's first memoir ''Fairest'' was released on May 26, 2020, by

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

under

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

. The memoir details Talusan's journey from life in the Philippines as a boy with albinism to embodying her trans self as a woman in America. It also discusses Talusan's encounters with being mistakenly perceived as

cisgender The word ''cisgender'' (often shortened to ''cis''; sometimes ''cissexual'') describes a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth, i.e., someone who is not ''transgender''. The prefix '' cis-'' is Latin and ...

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, and

able-bodied {{Short pages monitor