New documentary short to showcase “retired intersex transwoman truck driver” Patti Spangler

By Ilyse Kramer

Patti Spangler, who describes herself in her Huffington Post article as “retired intersex transwoman truck driver and aspiring activist,” will share her story in the documentary short, Trucker Patti, at the 2014 San Francisco Transgender Film Festival coming up in November.

For over 25 years, Patti had lived in fear that her secret would be discovered—with two X and one Y chromosome, she was born with a penis. She chose truck driving as a career because separating herself from others kept her secret safe. Patti nevertheless craved connection, and would call into LGBTQ radio shows while “cruising down America’s highways.”

In these conversations over satellite radio, she was surprised “at how little gays and lesbians know [about] or understand the trans experience, let alone that of intersex people.” She asked herself, how “can I expect straight people to understand trans and gender variant people, when so few in the LGB community understand us?”

Inspired to answer her own question, Patti began putting more of her life out in the open, and in doing so found herself embraced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities. In addition to sharing her journey toward self-acceptance and activism in the Huffington Post and Trucker Patti, she is developing an education program for colleges and universities.