Nora J.S. Reichardt Comes Out As Trans ... In Iowa ... On The TV News

Last week a Des Moines, Iowa news station, Local 5, aired a segment introducing one of the newest members of their team, although this person wasn’t really all that new, as reporter Stephanie Angleson noted when she introduced the segment:

“Today is special. You have welcomed her into your homes for the past year… Tonight, Local 5’s Nora Reichardt wants you to meet the real Nora, her true self.”

And with that, the viewing audience met Nora J.S. Reichardt, one of the stations reporters who has worked there for a little more than a year, and who was now talking about being transgender:

In a nearly 16-minute segment, Local 5 allowed Nora to celebrate her transition and her to share her story. She talked about dealing with depression and anxiety and about her fears there wouldn’t be a place for her on the news if she came out. She talks of feeling suicidal as she struggled with her gender identity, and about her year-long medical transition and even shares photos of her transformation. She is shown filing the paperwork to have her name legally changed, and Reichardt showed her “Transition To Do List,” which included figuring out her dress size, drafting Coming Out posts for social media, planning how to come out at work, and vocal training. And she explained how happy she was not to have to hide her identity at work any longer:

“People who feel like they have a personal relationship with a trans person, it’s understandable that it can feel like a loss, but the way I would ask people to reframe that is, you’re getting someone better. You’re getting someone that that person is so much happier being.”

She also emphasized that she is still the person she was before, the person who knows too many Spiderman facts, plays too many video games, and can often be found reading at the coffee shops with the only difference being that now she’s a “little happier “ when she does it.

Welcome Out, Nora, and please accept as our gift from HOMO HQ the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven™ and a copy of The Gay Agenda, though it seems you have that part down:

“It really in many ways feels like that for the first time in just over 24 years my life is really, truly mine to do whatever I want with. It feels like it’s really just starting to become the life that I want to have and I’m so excited to live it.”

Welcome Out. And thanks for helping to light the way ...

LGBTQ Nation