For Allen to ask crossdressers or trans people to step out so publicly was a matter of trust, which Allen was dedicated to gain. They lost their church communities if the church knew, and kept everything to do with their jobs secret.'Īllen used her lens to reflect a more accurate reality - a positive, beautiful, even celebratory picture of a person who had finally found herself. There were many debates about telling their children, and if yes, at what age. When/if they told their wives, many marriages ended in divorce.
'Some thought they were crazy and bad, guilty, unworthy. 'Many people I met at that time thought they were the only person in the world that was 'that way,'' Allen said.