Background
He cites his mother"s influence in social justice issues sparking his interest since preschool, and went with his mom to women"s rights, and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment.
He cites his mother"s influence in social justice issues sparking his interest since preschool, and went with his mom to women"s rights, and campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment.
Assigned as female at birth, Anderson-Minshall was raised on a farm outside of Inkom, Idaho by his Catholic family. In talking about his gender transitioning, he notes that his family was supportive of him being a tomboy and wearing clothes, playing with toys traditionally associated with boys. In high school he spent a year in Germany as part of the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program.
He also joined in anti-nuclear protests.
In college, Anderson-Minshall was active in the anti-Apartheid movement opposing South Africa"s system of apartheid and supporting South Africa"s non-whites, and marched in support of women"s reproductive rights. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Global Studies from Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana and a Master"s degree in Communication from Idaho State University in Pocatello.
After graduating he canvassed for anti-nuclear group SANE/FREEZE and other efforts before focusing on lesbian and gays rights. Anderson-Minshall later passed the National Park Service"s law enforcement Ranger Academy becoming a park rangerin the 1990s patrolling the "forested lands above Silicon Valley, bay and ocean-side parks and rolling hills north of San Francisco." He was disabled in a work-related injury in 2003.
At which point Anderson-Minshall returned to writing.
As a freelance journalist, he has focused on environmental and LGBT issues and has written for numerous publications like Bitch and Curve magazines, SheWired.com and Windy City Times and Examiner.com, where he is the Portland Green Living expert. From 2005-2009, Anderson-Minshall authored the syndicated column "TransNation," which ran in LGBT publications like San Francisco Bay Times, Windy City Times, and Boston"s Bay Windows. When he signed on with the publisher, Anderson-Minshall became the first man writing for the heretofore lesbian company.
Anderson-Minshall has essays in a number of anthologies including Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power (edited by Shira Tarrant) and Transport People in Love.
In 2008, Anderson-Minshall co-founded and co-hosts the talk radio show Gender Blender, one of the few transgender-hosted radio shows in the United States, on Portland, Oregon"s KBOO.
After coming out as lesbian after college, Anderson-Minshall further came out as transgender in 2004 and began gender transitioning.