Tat Bellamy-Walker

A lot has happened since Tat Bellamy-Walker was interviewed for the BCLP in 2018. Bellamy-Walker graduated from the Craig Newmark School of Journalism (CUNY), got started on their journalism career and completed their gender transition.

When Brian Moreno interviewed Tat, who grew up female, they were only beginning the process of transitioning. The surgeries and physical transitions as well as the legal transitions took 7 years in all.

“It’s been a mix of good and a lot of challenges,” Bellamy-Walker said. “A lot of people have been supportive and if I didn’t have my journalism colleagues, it would have been a lot harder.” In those seven years, they have worked as a journalist at NBC, The Business Insider and the Seattle Times.

Bellamy-Walker grew up in Copiague, Long Island. When Tat was 9, they began working at Children’s Press Line, a youth news organization affiliated with the New York Amsterdam News and the New York Daily News. “That’s where I got my start as the journalist I am today,” they said.

At 14, they interviewed President Bill Clinton and covered the 2009 Obama inauguration.  Brooklyn College and the Craig Newmark School of Journalism (CUNY) followed later.

All the time they were trying to figure out their gender identity. “It was painful because I didn’t want to be trans,” they said. “I didn’t want to make my life harder. I just wanted to be a happy girl, the way I thought life intended me to be, but I couldn’t cope with it. I tried hard to be a girl, but it was hard.”

Tat’s mother threw them out of the house, but luckily, they had an aunt who was in a relationship with a woman. His lesbian aunts showed Tat that other types of relationships and identities existed.

By the time Bellamy-Walker was attending the Newmark School of Journalism, they had made the decision to transition. And for the most part, they found acceptance from other journalists.

On graduation, their journalism career continued. At the Seattle Times, they worked as a reporter for over two years, covering a variety of stories focusing on business, race, social justice, economics, LGBTQ+ identity issues. Despite the support of their colleagues, Bellamy-Walker also “experienced a lot of hateful abuse online,” they said. Bellamy-Walker is the co-founder of the Trans Journalists Association, which has built a community for other trans journalists and has helped them navigate the process.

They are currently the Program Manager of Digital Safety Training and Resources at PEN American, the non-profit that works to protect free expressions both in the U.S. and internationally. Their job is to train and work with journalists who have experienced abuse and harassment. “We give people strategies for how to handle hacking and doxing,” which many journalists, over the last few years, have had to deal with. They have a lot on their plate.