Transgender Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider — a man who identifies as a woman — is defending sex-change procedures for children, calling them “literally lifesaving” in a new memoir set to be released this week.
In the book, Schneider admits to once trying to masturbate to a Leonardo DiCaprio movie to determine if he was attracted to men (he wasn’t). He also calls former President Donald Trump a “vulgar sexist racist idiot.”
In the Form of a Question: The Joys and Rewards of a Curious Life recounts Schneider’s gender transition as an adult and subsequent rise to fame as a repeat Jeopardy! winner.
In advanced excerpts published in the Los Angeles Times, Schneider recalls testifying in 2022 against Ohio’s House Bill 454, which would have barred doctors from providing so-called “gender-affirming care” to children.
Schneider argues that cross-sex hormones and surgeries for kids are “literally lifesaving.”
'Jeopardy' vet Amy Schneider runs the board on drugs, polyamory, transphobia and more https://t.co/v8MwVgAHoa
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) September 30, 2023
“What I did to become famous was answer a bunch of trivia questions,” he writes. “I’m proud of how I did that, and I’m honored that people connected with me,” adding that testifying was part of “the work of using that fame for good.”
In the book, Schneider calls his male gender an “ugly, ill-fitting boy costume.”
Schneider recalls he started cross-dressing at home while married to his then-wife Kelly. When he tried to bring it up with her, “it seemed clear to me this was not a part of my life she had any interest in sharing.”
In another passage, Schneider claims to be a woman, full stop.
“The whole trans issue is just not that hard!” he writes. “Take me at my word when I tell you I’m a woman. After that, these ‘controversies’ will seem trivial. Should I be allowed in a woman’s bathroom? Well, duh. I’m a woman… Trans people are just people. They need to pee sometimes. Let them.”
The mainstream media’s coverage of Schneider’s Jeopardy! streak and subsequent celebrity status frequently described the contestant as a “woman” without referring to the fact that Schneider is transgender.
In one passage, Schneider recalls trying to pleasure himself while watching the 1996 movie Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. But he discovered that DiCaprio was doing nothing for him, sexually.
Schneider also writes about his insecurities about his deep voice.
“I realized that being trans in public carried responsibilities,” he writes. “To hide my voice began to feel like a betrayal to my community.”
Schneider’s new book comes after he signed a deal last year with Hollywood mega-agency CAA.
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