Ep. 27 | Meet Jeanette, Jazz Jennings' Mom, from I am Jazz | TS Podcast

In today's episode, we’re thrilled to be joined by Jeanette Jennings, mother of the amazing spokesperson, UA-cam and TV personality, and LGBTQ+ rights activist, Jazz Jennings. You may know Jazz and Jeanette from their popular award-winning docuseries, now in its 8th season on TLC, I am Jazz. Jeanette is also the President and co-founder of the Transkids Purple Rainbow Foundation, which helps transgender youth.
Jazz was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age three and socially transitioned at 5. She is one of the youngest publicly documented people who have identified as transgender. In 2007, when Jazz was only six years old, her story caught mainstream media's attention when Barbara Walters interviewed her and her family for 20/20.
Throughout our conversation with Jeannette, we learn about the blessings and the most challenging parts of Jazz's journey as a transgender child, how Jeanette has fought for Jazz’s rights, and the support they received from friends and relatives. Jeanette also talks about how important it is for transgender kids' parents to set their egos aside and make informed decisions seeking the best for their children. We can see how Jeanette and her wonderful spouse of almost 30 years, Jazz's dad Greg, have done exactly that.
We also discuss gender-affirming care, the story behind the interview with Barbara Walters, an interview with Oprah, and tons of behind-the-scenes golden nuggets from Jazz's family reality show, I am Jazz.
In This Episode, You Will Learn:
A bit about Jazz's journey as a transgender kid (6:15)
A family in transition (10:47)
Jazz's experiences in kindergarten as a girl. How Jeanette learned to pick her battles (19:01)
The most challenging parts of Jazz's transition (28:27)
About the American states that don't provide gender-affirming care as a political decoy (42:43)
What we can learn from transgender people's life experiences (58:29)
Some behind-the-scenes stories from the show I am Jazz (1:09:13)
Resources:
I am Jazz on TLC: www.tlc.com/sh...
Trans Kids Purple Rainbow Foundation: transkidspurpl...
The Family Acceptance Project: familyproject....
Interview with Barbara Walters: • Transgender at 11: Lis...
Follow Jazz on Instagram: www.instagram....
The Jennings Family on Instagram: www.instagram....
If you prefer to listen to this episode, it's on Apple here: podcasts.apple...
and on Spotify here: open.spotify.c...
or ACast here: shows.acast.co...
Connect with Jeanette:
Instagram: www.instagram....
Connect with Jackie and Bridget:
Transgender Support: Becoming a True Ally Video Course on Vimeo: vimeo.com/onde...
Transgender School Patreon Membership with all exclusive content: / transgenderschool
Transgender School on Medium: / transgenderschool
Instagram: / transgenderschool
Website: transgendersch...
Facebook: / transgenderschool
Community Facebook Group: / 335293844344774
UA-cam: / @transgenderschool