Bruce Jenner jokes, speculation highlight transgender issues

RAAK/AKM-GSI Bruce Jenner hides under a hat and sunglasses as he stops by Starbucks earlier this month after the debut of the photoshopped InTouch Weekly cover.

Is Bruce Jenner becoming a woman?

That burning question, circulating for well over a year, has flared into obsession since InTouch Weekly’s audaciously doctored picture captured him in pink lipstick, a silk scarf and a original blowout.

The faux-tograph came with a shrieking headline: “Bruce’s Report: My Life as a Woman.”

Is the 65-year-ancient Olympic gold medalist grappling with gender issues? Or is it all hogwash? Or something in between? Whatever the answer, the gossip magazine managed to get one thing right — It’s Bruce’s report, and it’s his to tell or not.

But there’s one transition that’s as undeniable as a car crash — Jenner has gone from an American Olympic hero to a national punch line.

Even former “Dynasty” star Stephanie Beacham, whose body was secretly grafted onto Jenner’s head on the Photoshopped magazine cover, has giggled over it.

InTouch Weekly’s Bruce Jenner cover was outrageously doctored.

“I speak no lie. Bruce Jenner looks far lovelier than I do there,” she told “Inside Edition.” “It’s the silliest thing that has happened today. I think it’s terribly amusing.”

But not all New Yorkers are laughing.

Like Fiona, 78, who has went to Manhattan from the Midwest since transitioning in 2010 after years of grappling with the issue of gender identity.

“I feel very good about coming to terms with who I am,” Fiona tells the Day after day News, adding that she chose the name that goes with her Irish lineage.

Fiona’s therapist was the first person who spoke her name.

“He said, ‘Excellent morning, Fiona. It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ ”

Fiona felt the same way, as though clouds parted to reveal the sun. A fleeting time later, Fiona came out to her brother and sister. “I told them that I had something to tell them,” she says. “My brother gave me a big hug.”

Five years after embracing her new life, she still has only a few articles of clothing, mostly from Macy’s and JCPenney. She has a blond wig “like my original hair color.”

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIME

Laverne Cox attends the TIME 100 Gala last year in New York.

Enlarge TIME Magazine ‘Orange is the New Black’ star Laverne Cox on the cover of TIME Magazine in a report called ‘ The Transgender Tipping Point.’ Enlarge

‘Orange is the New Black’ star Laverne Cox was featured on the cover of TIME in a report called ‘ The Transgender Tipping Point.’

Tony Duffy/Getty Images Bruce Jenner celebrates during his record setting performance in the decathlon in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.

“I only go out dressed as a woman only on select occasions,” she says, adding that sexual reassignment isn’t her goal. “You read tales about those who’ve done the full transition. And wow. The expense. The evaluation. The blowback from people who don’t know. Unknown has ever said anything nasty to me in stores. In some places, people say, ‘Hello, honey, what can I do for you?’ But I’ve also gotten some odd looks.”

Fiona chooses to stay anonymous. She admits she can’t imagine what Jenner is going through.

Professionals in the field have a good thought — and it’s not a pretty picture. “It’s a honest issue whether Bruce Jenner is going through it or not,” says Arizona-based Kim Pearson, training director for the transgender support group TransYouth Family Allies.

“I don’t know Bruce Jenner’s report,” she adds. “If he is (transitioning), it’s something that’s very hard — exponentially more so being in the public eye.”

She mentions Chaz Bono.

View Gallery Bruce Jenner’s extreme transformation

“He had to go through it publicly,” says Pearson. “He did very well. Not everybody does.”

Public scrutiny just makes things harder. The kind of attention Jenner has gotten “is tragic in my eyes,” says Judy Sennesh, who chairs the Transparent Project at PFLAG, which supports lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender families. “It’s hard enough if you’re young and realize that you have gender issues you need addressed. It’s even harder if you’re older. Your life is turned upside down.”

But people are going topsy-turvy. At PFLAG, in Chelsea, transgender group meetings are growing quicker than any other group. The extension comes at a time when transgender talk is everywhere — even the Oval Office.

LACY ATKINS/AP

Chastity Bono is seen in 1996.

Splash News

Chaz Bono in October.

Bruce Jenner on a Wheaties box.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images Jeffrey Tambor appears at the Golden Globes for ‘Transparent.’

On Tuesday, Head Obama became the first Head to use the terms “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” in a State of the Union speech. He issued a historic call for protections for those of any sexual or gender orientation. “As Americans, we respect human dignity,” he said.

In the Golden Globe-winning series “Transparent,” Jeffrey Tambor plays a 70-year-ancient man who decides to live as a transgender woman who struggles to come out as transgender to her adult kids.

“Are you saying you’re going to start dressing up like a lady all of the time?” a daughter questions. “No, honey,” comes the answer. “All my life, my whole life, I’ve been dressing up like a man. This is me.”

On “Glee,” Coach Beiste, described by Dot-Marie Jones, echoes that sentiment, revealing that she had made the choice to transition from female to male. “I have to get my body in alignment with how I see myself,” the coach says.

When Time magazine put transgender “Orange is the New Black” star Laverne Cox on its cover in May and declared it a “tipping point” for transgender issues, the mag was onto something.

“There’s not just one trans report,” Cox said. “There’s not just one trans experience. And I think what they need to know is that not everybody who is born feels that their gender identity is in alignment with what they’re assigned at birth, based on their genitalia.”

This report had enormous positive impact, says Jean Malpas, director of the Gender and Family Project at the Ackerman Institute in Manhattan.

“People weren’t laughing about this,” he says. “They still aren’t. This report really went things forward. The report addressed the fact that we all have complexities.

“People are very invested in not blurring the lines, when it comes to gender,” Malpas continues. “Check the pink box if you’re a girl. Check the blue box if you’re a boy. Redefining gender triggers violent and aggressive responses.”

Beth Dubber Jeffrey Tambor (right) is seen in character as a transgender woman in the series ‘Transparent.’

John Sciulli Bruce Jenner and Kris Kardashian are pictured together in 2011.

Pearson’s heart sank in response to InTouch’s Jenner cover. “It stripped him of his humanity,” she says. But the attack wasn’t just anti-Bruce and anti-Kardashian, since people who will do anything for attention. The photo was, pure and simple, toxic and transphobic.

“The image just substantiated stereotypes and misconceptions,” Pearson continues. “They were going for an ick factor. Every time we think we’re making progress, something like this comes along and undoes strides. It’s so disheartening.”

And destructive. “No good comes from something at the expense of an individual,” says Malpas. “The way we talk about it has to be constructive.”

Fortunately, Fiona found the courage in herself to be her real self.

“I don’t think of myself as courageous,” she says. “Some transgender people push the envelope. For many of us, it’s just finding out who we really are and living our life is enough.”

That goes for everyone, including Bruce Jenner, whatever his report turns out to be.