Updated: Second Wachowski Sibling Reveals Transition, Denounces Gender Binary

Update: A Daily Mail spokesperson provided the following statement: "DailyMail.com categorically denies that it in anyway tried to coerce Lilly Wachowski into revealing her gender transition. As Ms Wachowski herself says, we were not the first media organization to approach her and we made absolutely clear at several points in the conversation that we were only interested in reporting the story if and when she was happy for us to do so and with her cooperation. Our reporter was extremely sympathetic and courteous at all times, as is obvious from our transcript of the exchange. Indeed the conversation with our journalist ended with Ms Wachowski agreeing to call him the following day. The previous case to which she refers was a UK primary (elementary) school teacher, Lucy Meadows, who returned to school after the winter holidays in 2013 with a new sexual identity. The Daily Mail did NOT ‘out’ her or hound her. The story emerged after the school wrote announcing the change to parents, some of whom contacted the local media because they were concerned their children might be too young to understand what had happened. The Daily Mail newspaper, which is a separate editorial operation to DailyMail.com, subsequently carried the personal view of a columnist who, while emphatically defending Ms Meadows’ right to transition echoed some parents concerns about whether it was right for children to confront complex gender issues at such a vulnerable young age. In the event, it emerged at her inquest that Ms Meadows made no mention either of the press in general or of the Daily Mail in particular in an extensive suicide note. As The Guardian reported at the time: ‘In a note she left, she made no mention of press intrusion, citing instead her debts, a number of bereavements including the death of her parents, and her stressful job as a primary school teacher. ‘She insisted she was not depressed or mentally ill and thanked her friends, family and colleagues for their support, as well as messages she had received from well-wishers around the world.’ We wish Lilly Wachowski well with her journey though we are surprised as to how she has reacted, given the courtesy and sensitivity with which the reporter approached her."

Lana Wachowski made major news when she was named one of Marc Jacobs’ muses. Now her filmmaking partner and sibling has announced that she has also transitioned. Lilly, formerly Andy Wachowski, made a statement in the Windy City Times, an LGBTQ publication from the Wachowskis’ hometown of Chicago. In her statement, she says that she nearly came out much earlier — and not by choice. She says she had her statement prepared. “In response to this threatened public outing against my will, I had a prepared a statement that was one part piss, one part vinegar and 12 parts gasoline,” she writes. Although a major director confirming her gender is undeniably news, heightened transgender suicide and murder rates (not to mention basic standards of respect) mean that any transgender person has a right to their own transitional timeline. However, some publications seemed intent on outing her before she was ready to announce her true gender. She writes about one such request from the Daily Mail, which sent a reporter to her door. Lilly points in particular to that paper's record of involuntarily outing a transgender teacher who then took her own life. Wachowski confirms that she has transitioned and announced her transition to family, friends, and work associates. She also says that the tags “transition” and “transgender,” while the most commonly accepted phrasings for gender confirmation, don’t do her justice. She writes: “But these words, 'transgender' and 'transitioned' are hard for me because they both have lost their complexity in their assimilation into the mainstream. There is a lack of nuance of time and space. To be transgender is something largely understood as existing within the dogmatic terminus of male or female. And to 'transition' imparts a sense of immediacy, a before and after from one terminus to another. But the reality, my reality is that I've been transitioning and will continue to transition all of my life, through the infinite that exists between male and female as it does in the infinite between the binary of zero and one. We need to elevate the dialogue beyond the simplicity of binary. Binary is a false idol.” GLAAD commended her choice to come out and released a statement with guidelines for how to cover her transition. Refinery29 reached out to Lilly's manager, who refused comment, as well as the Daily Mail and her agent, who have yet to provide their responses.