Danica Roem On Her Thrash Metal Roots and Facing Off with Transphobia
Burn the Page, an engrossing collection of the intimate, hilarious, sometimes beer-soaked moments that led to her history-making political career.“Some people try to make it hurt by being like, ‘Danica wants to be a celebrity,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, Danica also passed 32 bills into law, including 10 to feed hungry kids,’” Roem tells The Advocate’s LGBTQ&A podcast.As Roem moves further into the public eye, one thing has remained consistent: the obsession with her looks.
In Burn the Page, Roem writes, “Trans women who put themselves in the public sphere are immediately judged on this criteria, regardless of age: Are.
You. Fuckable? It’s wrong, it shouldn’t be like that, and yet I cannot even begin to underscore the reality of this.”It’s relentless.
She’s forced to confront it every day. Now that she has won three consecutive elections since 2017 (and has just announced her candidacy for the Virginia Senate), the media outlets in Virginia appear to be slightly less focused on Roem’s gender.“Transgender candidate” was attached to the headline of almost every article written about her (including in this magazine).
