Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Chapter 1: Velma von Tussle, 1948

I thought I had married a man named Edward von Tussle; we even have two daughters, Amber and Tracy, although I am rather disappointed that Tracy inherited Edward’s body type rather than my own.  I guess, when Tracy and Amber get older, only Amber will continue my streak of success in beauty contests—but I will make sure she doesn’t have to sink as low as I did to win them.

Today, that tranny Edward—who’s calling himself Edna now—moved out of my house, along with Tracy; I was glad to be rid of him, because what will people think once they start thinking I was attracted to another woman? (In truth, I haven’t been attracted to Edward since he told me he was transgender, but that’s not my fault; I’m really not attracted to women, tranny or not.) The truth is, I have rather mixed feelings about Tracy leaving with Edward; I’ve always been more proud of Amber than of Tracy, but at the same time, I’m not sure whether Edward is a suitable parent for Tracy if he’s saying that he’s transgender, even though in fact there’s no such thing.

Six months later…

Amber may still be living with me, but I can’t let her know that her dad is a tranny; I believe that she and Tracy are too young to understand what that means, and I’m not sure I should explain to Amber.  When I came home from my job as the producer of the Corny Collins Show —a local teen dance show on which I will ensure that Amber performs when she’s older—I checked my mail, and I had a letter from a woman named Edna.  Oh no, I thought, this can’t be my ex-husband! I went up to my room before I opened the letter, and Edward (though he signed the letter as Edna) told me that he had officially been diagnosed with gender identity disorder and was about to start his physical transition to female—although I can’t see how that would be allowed if he truly had a psychological disorder.  Edward explained that because he was going to transition medically, he thought that the term “transsexual” was the right word to use for people like him.

Note: Since the time that this story takes place, the label “gender identity disorder” has been recognized as problematic.  The condition has been relabeled as “gender dysphoria”, though some trans activists still believe that it is problematic to label gender dysphoria as a mental illness.

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Tracy von Tussle, 1951

To any transgender people who are reading this story: Please don’t believe any of the inaccurate things Velma says about what it means to be transgender. (After what Mom told me today about her conflict with Velma, I don’t consider Velma my mom anymore, especially as I no longer live with her.) Please be like Mom’s boyfriend Wilbur Turnblad, with whom we just moved in, and accept people like Mom.

Today Mom told both Wilbur and me that she’s transgender and what exactly this means.  Even though I was very young when Mom (who I then thought was my dad) left Velma, I still heard their final argument before Mom and I left Velma’s house.  But not until today did I understand that the term “tranny” with which Velma labeled Mom was a derogatory one, similar to the N-word (which is surprisingly acceptable, though I don’t think it should be, especially as my own mother has faced discrimination for who she is).

When Mom came out to Wilbur today, I was deathly afraid of losing another parent figure, because Wilbur has been exactly that to me since he and Mom started dating a year ago; I always wondered whether I’d ever truly have a father, as the man I’d thought was my father turned out to be a transgender woman—though I’ve got nothing against her for it.  I was especially afraid of losing Wilbur at that point, because I didn’t think he was gay—and technically he’s not, because he told Mom that he sees her as a woman despite her not having been born female.

Three months later…

Today Wilbur asked Mom to marry him—this really shows his acceptance of transgender people, especially compared to Velma!  Velma always said that if Mom was going to insist that she was transgender (though Velma used a much more derogatory term), then Amber and I would never have a traditional family.  I don’t know about Amber—I don’t know whether Velma has remarried—but I now consider myself to have a traditional family structure now that Mom and Wilbur are going to be married!

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Five years later…

Wilbur asked me who my biological mother was, if Edna (who I consider to be my mom) is technically my dad.  I told him that my biological mother’s name is Velma von Tussle; Mom refuses to leave the house because she’s self-conscious about her weight and her obviously-transgender appearance.  So Wilbur invited Velma and Amber to our house in an attempt to repair our family—I’m really not sure that’s a good idea when Mom’s married to him now, not to Velma.

As soon as we all sat down at the dinner table, Velma said, “No matter how much this tranny here (she pointed at Mom) dresses like a woman, Edward is still a man, really.  I didn’t think you were attracted to men, Wilbur—do your friends not know that your husband dresses like a woman?  They’d hate you if they knew you were gay.” “Stop misgendering my wife, Velma,” Wilbur said.  “She’s a woman, and that’s how I see her.  I’m attracted to women.  And have you not heard?  Physically, Edna is female—she had sex reassignment surgery…” “Gosh, I’m surprised he was allowed to do that,” Velma cut in.  “After all, after he broke up with me, he did write to me saying he had a psychological disorder.” “You mean gender dysphoria?  She needed that kind of diagnosis to be allowed to have gender transition surgery, as far as I’m aware,” Wilbur said.  Mom then said, “Velma, can you leave, please?  I don’t know why Wilbur invited you over.” “Not until you stop laboring under the delusion that you’re a woman, Edward,” said Velma.  “Oh, and promise me Tracy won’t turn out like you—deluded that she’s a man.” Do these things really run in families? I thought.  Wilbur continued, “Edna’s right, Velma.  We do want you and Amber to leave, if you’re going to be so transphobic toward my wife.” “You mean your husband ,” retorted Velma.  “Just get out,” said Wilbur.  Velma and Amber then left.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you, Edna,” said Wilbur after Velma and Amber had left.  “I had no idea how transphobic Velma was.  I assumed that you two were no longer allowed to be married because you were legally a woman now, and she regretted that.” “I should have told you the truth, Wilbur,” Mom replied.  “It isn’t your fault that Velma is so transphobic, Edna,” said Wilbur.  “I was wrong.  It would be best if Tracy wasn’t reunited with Velma and Amber, right, Tracy?” “I could never have a good relationship with them,” I said, “not as long as Velma is transphobic.”

“In that case, Tracy, since I’m your stepdad…I’ve been reading up on adoption law, and a stepparent can legally adopt their partner’s child from their first marriage.  We really need to make it official that I’m your father.  Now that Edna is legally a woman, she’s considered to be one of your mothers—but she should be your only mother.  We need to cut ties with Velma.” Of course, I gladly agreed to this.

11 years later…

I want to be on the Corny Collins show, a local teen dance show, and there’s finally an opening.  But Mom absolutely refuses to allow me to do it.  She says that it’s because she doesn’t want me to get disappointed; she’s expecting that I’ll be discriminated against because of my weight, a trait that I share with her.  But I secretly went to the studio to audition today, and I was reminded that the show was produced by Velma.  She said nothing about me being her daughter, implying that she truly has disowned me because I remind her of her ex-husband who turned out to be a transgender woman.  She clearly hated me, but she made it seem to everyone else like it was only because I was in favor of racial integration (a highly controversial issue here in Baltimore right now).  Now I know why it really was that Mom didn’t want me to audition for the Corny Collins show: it’s produced by the only person outside our family who knows that she’s transgender—I’ve kept it a secret from my best friend Penny’s conservative Christian mom, who would hate my mom if she knew.

Once I, Tracy Turnblad, was a local celebrity after getting onto the Corny Collins Show …

Mom finally got her revenge on Velma for all her transphobia (including her attempt to seduce Wilbur to get “revenge” on Mom for pretending that she was a woman as an excuse to break up with Velma).  Mom got revenge on Velma by tricking her into revealing (on a camera operated by Mom) that she (Velma) tried to rig the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant (in which Amber and I both competed) so that Amber would win.  But my friend Little Inez (who is Black) won the pageant instead, after a surge of last-minute voting, which racially integrated the Corny Collins show.  Meanwhile, Velma lost her job for rigging the pageant so that Amber would win it.  Meanwhile, I’ve started dating Amber’s old boyfriend Link Larkin— the perfect revenge on Amber for sharing Velma’s transphobic views. (We had talked at school about our competition on the Corny Collins show, and Amber said, “That tranny you call your mom but who’s really your dad…what does he think of all of this?”  I had managed to convince everyone around that Amber was lying to decrease my chances of winning the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant, which my friends believed.)

My new friend Seaweed (the brother of Little Inez), whose mom hosted “Negro Day” back when it happened only once a month, asked me how I was ever able to sympathize with people like him, even when it mattered the most, because I’m white.  “If you don’t mind my asking,” he said, “was your weight the only reason you ever faced discrimination?” “It wasn’t me,” I replied, “but my mother is transgender—do you know what that means?  It means she was born in a body whose gender she didn’t identify with.  She’s transitioned medically— that’s the real reason why she didn’t leave the house for more than a decade, it wasn’t so much because of her weight—it was because she was mid-transition, and after she had completed her transition, she still didn’t want to give her ex-wife Velma an opportunity to out her.” “Velma von Tussle?  The mother of your old rival Amber von Tussle?” Seaweed said. “Is she your mom, too?” “I don’t call her that anymore, since she was way more transphobic than she needed to be to Mom after Mom came out to her as transgender.”

“At least it’s possible for people like her to avoid being outed,” Seaweed said, “but I see the point you’re trying to make.  You can take one look at someone like me and see that I’m black.  Does Penny’s mom know about this?  Because if she does, I’d hate to see what she thinks.” My best friend Penny is now Seaweed’s girlfriend; her mom disowned her because of their relationship.  I said she almost did find out (because of Velma, of course), but Mom had walked away from Velma before the latter could ask Mrs. Pingleton to recommend a “conversion therapist” for Mom—I hadn’t thought of Velma as a believer in pseudoscience, but maybe she is.  Since Mom had told me and Wilbur that she was transgender, I had done research from liberal sources about what it meant to be transgender—and I had seen that conversion therapy didn’t work as well as Velma and Mrs. Pingleton thought it did.  Dad (that’s what I call Wilbur even though he’s technically my stepdad) wasn’t surprised by this either; I’m grateful for the acceptance that Mom found with him after her relationship with Velma had a much worse end than it had to.

THE END