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According to the article, her father said: “I suppose it took me longer than my wife to accept it, but Kim is a very persuasive girl, she knows what she wants and how to get it. I am very proud of what she has achieved, how she has managed to get there and how she sticks to her dreams no matter how hard and painful they are to follow.”  Can I say how happy this makes me? Sometimes, it’s hard to believe how much the world has changed in some really positive ways.

Kim has become a model and a singer and her myspace page has a few of her songs on it. Not my cup of tea, but I can see them becoming dance hits. And her youtube page has some clips of her answering questions and such. She’s just cute as a bug, too.

Being the world’s first female-to-male transsexual porn star, almost everything he does is ground-breaking, history-making and eye-opening. Undaunted by the fact that, at first, most people really didn’t know how to take him; Buck got over on a lot of skeptics by sheer determination and having faith in himself.

On the outside, Buck is a strong, muscular, sexy, tattooed, cigar-smoking butch daddy. On the inside, he has a great sense of humor, as well as the courage to be wide-open. He is accessible and kind, faced with the inevitable curiosity. You get the impression that it’s not so much about gender for Buck anymore, but more about being a whole, complete person.

Ultimately, either you get Buck or you don’t. But it seems like more and more people are recognizing his work and accomplishments. In January, he won Transsexual Performer of the Year at the AVN Awards; porn’s version of the Oscars.

Producing films through his own company, Buck Angel Entertainment, he pushes the conventions of traditional porn in every way – by taking a staunch condom-only stand, and by avoiding gratuitous extremes or a sideshow mentality.

In his latest release, “Buckback Mountain,” filmed in panoramic high desert locations, there are gorgeous shots of sunrise skies and beautiful, authentic cowboy guitar music. Plus, the sex is pretty hot, complete with lots of foreplay and kissing. Needless to say – not your typical porno.

These days, Buck is on the road a lot. At clubs, Pride celebrations and special events all over the world – just recently on a whirlwind tour of Madrid, Amsterdam, London. It’s not surprising that global domination is the next destination on Buck’s amazing journey.

He will be speaking at the San Francisco Queer Arts Festival on June 21-22, and making appearances at the Good Vibrations festival booth. Go to www.queerculturalcenter.org for more information.

Good Vibrations: You’ve experienced some amazing success and progress this year – does it seem like a dream come true? What things have happened that mean the most to you?

Buck Angel: The main thing was winning the AVN award for Transsexual Performer of the Year. It was, of course, the first time an FTM performer has been nominated (as opposed to an MTF) and winning was truly amazing and historical. It really validates my efforts in the industry and shows that my efforts are being recognized. Now THAT was a dream come true.

I also got distribution in Europe with Shots Video and they are really great. I made a movie with the Japanese, and added Canadian distribution–all things that show I’m really “going global” which is great.
I also won “Circuit Party Performer of the Year” for my performance at The Black Party in NY. It cracks me up that I won over Toni Braxton and Gloria Gaynor!

And, things have taken off so much that I actually hired a manager to help me deal with traveling and setting up shows, performances, interviews and so on. He is doing a great job, and we are keeping each other busy!

GV: What’s the best thing about the experience of being an adult performer?

BA: Getting to work with a lot of wonderful people and show that safer sex can be hot sex. And that guys like me are sexy too! More broadly, I like to show the world that the penis does not make the man, and that there are other aspects of a person that make up their gender.

GV: And the most difficult thing?

BA: Probably all the travel. It isn’t as easy as it used to be and it can be very draining to do all those body cavity searches without getting paid. (Ha-ha; But really, travel is fun but tiring!)

GV: What’s your fanbase like these days? Are you attracting a straight audience or more attention from the LGBT side?

BA: My fan base is primarily gay men and women of all sorts, including straight women. Probably the smallest category is straight men. So, yes, lots of my fans are from the LGBT community. And a big thank you to all of you who ARE Buck Angel fans!

GV: I know you had a lot of trouble being accepted in the beginning, by industry and non-industry alike – what happened to cause that to change?

BA: I guess I stuck it out long enough for people to start taking me seriously. When I was new and unheard of, they thought it was a novelty and maybe something weird, or at least really different. But, like anything else, repeated exposure helps to normalize perspectives, and as I stayed in the industry and expanded my fan base–as more and more people heard of me and liked my work, well – that speaks for itself.

GV: You’re very open about being transgendered and have been very careful about not allowing yourself to be portrayed as a freak — do you think transgendered people still feel a huge amount of stigma or does there seem to be more acceptance happening gradually? Do you think it’s important for transgendered people to be open, in order to gain more acceptance?

BA: Well, contrary to what some people think, I do not consider myself a spokesperson for the transgendered community. I represent…myself: Buck Angel. I can’t really speak for anyone else.

For me it is important to be open, and in terms of, say, taking home a potential trick or partner, I DO think it is vital to be honest. As far as whether you need to “out” yourself at your job, or everywhere you go, I can’t really say. That is very personal. I believe if you are true to yourSELF, everything else will fall into place. I believe that I am not a transsexual anymore. I think of myself as a man. I am not transitioning.
GV: Do people treat you differently in Europe, Asia, etc. than they do here in the States?

BA: I have found that people seem more “ready” for me outside of the US. It has kind of been a struggle in the States to get people to accept me or take me seriously, but that isn’t a problem at all any place else I go. As a result I’ve been focusing a lot of my efforts in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

GV: You’re first big scene was for Titan Media, in “Cirque Noir.” How did that deal come about?

BA: That wasn’t actually my first scene (I’d done a couple of movies by then) but it was my first appearance in a gay movie by a major studio! They had seen my other work, and were familiar with me and thought it would be exciting and different to include me in one of their projects. Keith Webb (co-owner of Titan) and I had been discussing a project for a while. It just had to be the perfect one.
I liked the idea of it right away, and I have to say that Titan was amazing to work with. They are totally great people and very professional to work with. I think the finished product is really incredible. That movie has certainly gotten a lot of notice and a lot of press, in part, because I was in it. That’s what I call a win/win situation.

GV: Have any of the “mainstream” adult studios approached you with potential projects yet?

BA: I have had a number of discussions with a variety of studios. I DO like doing my own movies, but you might find me here and there. Stay tuned for more info!
I am doing a documentary on my porn career right now. I am also talking to a pretty well known director about doing a part in a mainstream film. I think I will be one of the fastest porn stars to make the transition from porn to mainstream.

GV: You’re into fetish and BDSM — do you see that becoming more acceptable?

BA: I HAVE seen it becoming WAY more acceptable than it used to be. Fashionable even! I do not think that BDSM activities have the same stigma that they used to have. More people understand that it is a consensual power exchange between partners, and I feel there is a lot less harsh or negative judgment about it than before.

GV: What would you be doing if you weren’t a porn star?
BA: I’d probably be doing what I was doing before I became a porn star: working in the industry behind the camera–producing and directing porn. Or, I’d be smoking cigars by the pool at my private paradise, at home in Mexico.

GV: Your latest release is “Buckback Mountain,” what can the audience expect from that title? Who’s in it, what’s the concept behind it and what was your favorite scene?

BA: Well, Buckback Mountain is a kind of takeoff of the namesake movie, of course. It was shot on location in the California desert and the movie is much more of a feature film than any of my other work. It has great production values, a musical score and an award winning editor; in short, it rocks!

I have really hot co-stars and it is an amazing movie that I feel really proud about. So, I don’t want to tell you the whole thing, because you need to see it for yourself! Don’t miss it! Feel free to check out http://buckbackmountain.com/ for more details.

GV: Do you have a favorite sex toy?
BA: I love to fuck and get fucked by dildos of all types, but there is nothing quite like a Hitachi Magic Wand for a great screaming orgasm! I am in talks, as we speak, about my own toy being made. I am so excited about it. I think everyone is going to love it.

GV: What other projects do you have pending?
BA: I did a movie with some Japanese folks and I expect that to lead to more work in Japan. I think I’ll be going there and doing some live sex shows too. My manager has all kinds of live shows, TV shows and other things lined up for me all over the world!

Stay posted to my website: buckangel.com and my blog: buckangel.com/blog/

After Europe, I’ll be heading back to NYC to do a couple of weeks performing at the amazing new club “The Box.”

For more of Buck Angel, visit transexual-man.com and buckangel.com

This time around I’m reading from my newest book, The Leather Daddy and the Femme, which is my first novel. It grew out of a set of stories I wrote several years ago, “After the Light Changed,” and “The Next Morning,” in which the story’s protagonist, bisexual cross-dresser Miranda, follows a gay leatherman home — and doesn’t get thrown out of bed. Instead, they go on to have a series of erotic adventures. (I’ll be home in San Francisco reading from the book later this month — please come visit on June 23, 8 pm, at our Valencia Street store.)

My midwestern trips are scheduled at this time of year not because I like to flirt with tornados — I prefer my thrill-seeking behavior on the tamer side, I confess — but because last week Chicago hosted the US’s largest bookselling convention, Book Expo America. I signed both my new books (Sex Spoken Here, too) for a line of booksellers and readers. But my big news at BEA this year was that my book PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality (which came out last fall, and which I co-edited with Lawrence Schimel) was up for not one but three awards. It had been nominated in the Sexuality categories of the Small Press Book Award and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award, and in the Transgender category of the Lambda Literary Awards (Lammys, for short).

So for the first time I attended the Lammys, which honor mostly books by gay and lesbian authors. It was a fancy sit-down dinner-cum-awards ceremony with several hundred in attendance, hosted by lesbian comedian Kate Clinton and gay comedian Scott Thompson — both of whom have new books out. Many literary lights from the gay/lesbian communities were present — the Lammy is an important award in the queer community.

I felt somewhat awkward about PoMoSexuals being up for an award in the Transgender category. It is by no means a book principally about trans issues — rather, it’s an anthology by and about a variety of people who don’t fit into the binary systems of male/female, gay/straight this society uses to identify people. There are transpeople, bisexuals, lesbians who derive erotic inspiration from gay men, gay men who find their own community too rigid, and many more people who don’t color inside the lines, sex-and-gender-wise. There is no Bisexuality category at the Lammys, nor a “Pansexual” one. My ambivalence came from very much wanting to win the Lammy, but not wanting to win it in place of a transgendered person. That just wouldn’t have felt appropriate.

Fortunately, when our category was announced, there was a tie — PoMoSexuals won, but it shared the Lammy with Daphne Scholinksi’s amazing book The Last Time I Wore A Dress, which documents her experience of being incarcerated in a treatment facility as a teen because she wasn’t feminine enough. This didn’t happen in the 50s, either — it was just a few years ago. Sharing the award with her is actually a greater honor than it would have been to get it alone — the two books powerfully complement each other when it comes to inspiring readers to think about rigid categories and their effects on people’s lives.

As many of you know, I lived for a decade within the lesbian and gay community, staying silent about my bisexuality because if I was too open, I wouldn’t fit in anymore. Now, of course, I believe that we make space for ourselves precisely by being open about the realities of our lives and desires. It’s especially meaningful to me that the lesbian and gay literary community honored PoMoSexuals, which is in some respects a (loving) challenge to that still quite gender-segregated community. In which category do you suppose they would nominate my novel if they wanted to honor it? It’s got bisexuals, leather daddies, dykes, sex workers, transgendered people, cross-dressers, dominatrices, and “straight” guys who like she-males. No one category (except maybe my favorite Freudian phrase, “polymorphously perverse”) would fit all that.

But that’s the point of PoMoSexuals: that many of us don’t live binary lives. Love, sex, and self-image aren’t always either/or — in fact, in these times of gender role reassessment, they rarely are. This is just as relevant to the gay/lesbian communities as to the larger society: more so, really, since so many people who don’t fit the exclusively heterosexual, pink-is-for-girls-and-blue-is-for-boys mold look to gays and lesbians for support and community. They’re shocked to find that isn’t always immediately forthcoming. But we all grew up in a society that wants us to believe there are only two genders, that we must pick one, and that they are invariably opposites. That’s not true, and no one knows it better than transgendered people, bisexuals, intersexuals, and others whose lives contradict either/or ways of thinking. I’m very pleased that, in giving a Lammy to PoMoSexuals, the Lambda Literary Foundation honored those voices.