5. Candis Cayne
Cayne is not just a famous face for the transgender community, but is also recognized as being the first transgender woman to be cast in a recurring role on Primetime TV, when she played a transgender character on the hit show “Dirty Sexy Money” from 2007-2009. While Candis’ early career involved several drag roles, she began her transition to female in 1996, and most recently was featured in the reality TV series “I Am Cait,” which documented Caitlyn Jenner’s experience coming out as a transgender woman.
6. Schuyler Bailar
A recent episode of 60 Minutes highlighted the story of Schuyler Bailar, a transgender swimmer who was born a female, but currently competes on the men’s swim team at Harvard University, making Harvard the “first men’s Division I athletic team in the nation to include an openly transgender young man” on their roster. Though Bailar initially joined the women’s team at Harvard (and was recruited for that position), shortly after beginning college Schuyler came out as a transgender, which opened up the door to a lot of complications in terms of personal experiences and competitive swimming rules. After several conversations between the team coaches and the NCAA, Schuyler was accepted to swim on the men’s swim team, with the gender that he identified with, rather than the gender to which he was born.
