An Interview with Michelle Rogers

Conservative trans woman Michelle Lee Rogers.

Michelle Leigh Rogers followed a twisting path to the goal of self-publishing her book, Trans Right, about being a transgender female and political conservative. During her many years in science fiction fandom, she took advantage of its tradition of self-publication to write extensively for other fans. Among her writings was a history of fandom in the Southeastern U.S. Later in life, she spent a brief time exploring a possible call to the ministry. This required her to write a number of articles on various aspects of serving as a priest. She eventually decided that her late start and daily commitments made it impossible to pursue theological education. During all this time, Michelle wondered if she could write a full book. Her next life change gave her that opportunity. She had always known she was different from other people but had never figured out how. As she entered her sixties, the awful truth emerged from the depths. She had been born in a male body and had lived in it for well over half a century, but she now realized she was truly female in spirit. She made the transition and has lived as female since late 2018. Michelle’s transition gave her the spark to start working on Trans Right, which has been published and is now available on Amazon as an E-book and a print book, and on Ingram as a print book. She hopes the book sheds light on a little-known segment of the LGBT community. Michelle spent 20 years working in the information technology field in the higher education sector before retiring at the end of 2019. She still lives in her hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

By Shelley Anne Baker

TGForum: You self-published your new Trans Right book. Why?

Michelle: There are two main reasons. No traditional publishing company would want to deal with an unknown author writing about a niche topic. They only want to deal with big-name authors like Stephen King or celebrities like the Kardashians. The rest of us can, well, just insert an anatomically impossible act here.

Secondly, self-publishing allows me to stay in control of the content. When you sell a book to a publisher, you have no control over what they do to it. It may come out nothing like what you had in mind.

TGForum: What feedback have you received so far? Is the book selling like hotcakes?

Michelle: Not exactly. I have not checked the sales figures lately, but I had only sold 30 hardback copies as of early July. Eleven of them were my own purchases for publicity and personal use. As for feedback, there has not been much—probably because it has not received much notice. The people who have commented have been generally positive. Of course, many transgender people disagree with my political philosophy.

TGForum: Share a little of your conservative political philosophy. Here is another chance to piss off a new audience.

Michelle: Since I talk about specific questions in the book, I will try to summarize my overall political philosophy here. I believe that governments should be as small as possible. Unfortunately, the two world wars and the Socialist government in between them have led to an era of big government that we will never get rid of. Governments rarely decrease in size. But I do believe that small governments do less harm to the people who live in them.

Furthermore, I believe that governments should stay out of the private lives of individuals except to prevent major crimes like murder, robbery, rape (and other atrocious offenses). Individuals can hold whatever moral standards they wish but should not use the force of government to enforce their beliefs.

I believe that governments should remain fiscally responsible, trying to avoid debt as much as possible. It is unfair to future generations to put debt burdens on them. We have totally abandoned all pretense of caring about fiscal responsibility. I still believe this attitude will come back to haunt us in later years.

(Also) I believe that we must maintain a strong military to deter our enemies from attacking us. Unfortunately, it looks like we are now perceived as weakening and crumbling from within. I would not be surprised if one or the other major power tries to attack us in the next decade. I hope we are ready for that attack.

TGForum: What bothers you most about the government’s view of transgender rights?

Michelle: Mostly that many state governments believe that we have no rights to speak of. I live in a state that passed a number of anti-trans laws during the first part of 2021. The legislators made it clear that some of them truly hate our guts and would probably throw us in jail or worse if they could get away with it. If I ever leave here, that will be part of the reason why.

TGForum: Have you researched how many politically conservative transgender folks are out there in the U.S.?

Michelle: No. The number is surely quite small. I do believe, however, that we exist and need to be heard. The transgender movement should not be perceived as totally to the hard left. The general public will receive us much better if we contain all political persuasions.

TGForum: Is running for political office in the cards for you?

Michelle: “HAH!” And again, I say, “HAH!”  I am as far away from being a politician as anyone you could imagine. Not only am I transgender, but I am also mildly autistic and very much a nerd. I would have absolutely no chance of ever being elected to any political office. Over the years, I considered running just as a protest candidate. I finally decided it was not worth the time, money, or effort.

TGForum: Have you reached out to any national conservative political leaders for any reason? Good, bad, or indifferent?

Michelle: No. As we saw with the reaction to Caitlyn Jenner at CPAC recently, most of them probably hate the guts of all transgender people. I did send a copy of my press release to my state’s governor just to let him know I was not hiding from him. I voted for him last time but certainly will not vote for him again.

TGForum: What might any of the FOX News commentators think of you?

Michelle: It would be the same as the politicians. Most of them would hate my guts. Kennedy might be willing to listen to me, or maybe Kat Timpf. They both have more Libertarian leanings and seem to be more tolerant of unusual personal behavior.

TGForum: Have you contacted FOX about interviewing you to promote the book? As long as they spell your name correctly, even bad PR is good PR.

Michelle: I sent a press release to one person on their website. There was no reaction. I would gladly send releases or E-copies of the book to anyone at Fox News who wanted to see them. First, I would need to know who was interested. Just carpet bombing them would probably piss off everyone.

TGForum: Other than the obvious, being transgender and conservative, what more should TGF readers know about you?

Michelle: I am definitely a Southern girl. Before seeing my feminine nature, I thought of myself as a redneck intellectual who grew up in a working-class environment. That still holds true. I trained to be a musician but never got quite good enough to be a working professional. Finally, I do offer my love to my other transgender people. We have a tough life to live. We need to support each other as much as we can.

Editor’s note: You can purchase Michelle’s book here on Amazon.

Tags: featured, politics, Transgender

Category: Transgender Politics