A man sitting next to Tommy Dorfman sending transphobic messages. Photo / Tommy Dorfman
A man sitting next to Tommy Dorfman sending transphobic messages. Photo / Tommy Dorfman
Transgender actor Tommy Dorfman has called out a fellow plane passenger after catching the man sending transphobic text messages about her during the flight.
The pair were seated next to one another last week when Dorfman noticed the man texting people on his phone, complaining about sharing a seat nextto a transgender person and making disparaging remarks.
Dorfman, 33, used her phone’s camera to zoom in and photograph the messages and share them with her 1.1 million Instagram followers.
“I am in the first aisle of First Class. Guess what is sitting next to me?” the unidentified man wrote in a text message. “A f***ing transsexual in the midst of going from a man to a woman. Just my luck I was hoping for a hot babe!!”
Photos of the messages posted on Dorfman's Instagram. Photo / Tommy Dorfman
A second photo showed the man texting another person named Samantha with the same message, but adding, “2 and a half hours of sitting next to this freak!!”
Samantha was not impressed.
“Just remember many people you love are lgbtq+ and this country sucks for them right now. Be kind!” Samantha replied.
A response from a woman named Samantha. Photo / Tommy Dorfman
Dorfman is best known for playing Ryan Shaver in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, which first aired in 2017.
Dorfman captioned the photos with her own message about being trans in America.
“The audacity of this man so blatantly blasting off texts about me (sparing you the deeply misogynistic and revolting comments on our flight attendants in contrast to my freak) only reaffirms the choices I’ve made for myself to feel safe and comfortable in my body and spirit,” she wrote.
The 13 Reasons Why actor used her camera to zoom in and take photos of text messages while flying. Photo / Tommy Dorfman
Dorfman came out as transgender in 2021.
“This does come at the cost of safety and comfort in the world, especially in America, and that’s not without consequence internally and externally. I am lucky to have the life I have, the ability to fly freely (for now), and even post sh*t like this.”
She added: “And why post, you may wonder? Because I can and this man is an alt-right vampire AND because Samantha deserves her flowers.”
