One of the first voices millions of commuting New Yorkers hear each morning is the measured tone of former traffic reporter Bernie Wagenblast reminding them to stand away from the platform edge. Wagenblast, AKA “the voice of New York”, reminds AirTrain passengers at JFK or Newark that the doors are closing, and hosts a podcast about infrastructure, including episodes on Ohio’s bridges and wildlife crossings in Oregon. But that neutrally pan-American male voice, honed by years of practice to impart clarity and authority but not alarm, is changing.
Earlier this year, Wagenblast, 66, went on the radio to present herself publicly as a transgender woman, and has this month been participating in US Pride celebrations with gusto, including the march at Asbury Park on the Jersey shore. Wagenblast is still Bernie, but that’s now derived from Bernadette, not Bernard.
Wagenblast began presenting as a woman just as the US was hit with disputes over laws governing transgender people. Nineteen states have passed restrictions on medical care, and rows over trans representation roll through corporate America, sports and drag performance weekly.
“One of the things I like about transportation is that it’s not a terribly partisan issue,” Wagenblast says. Wagenblast says that she knew she was not in her biological gender aged four. “If I were a teenager today, I’m sure I would be more comfortable discussing it with my parents than I was in the 1960s. I wish puberty blockers existed [then]. I would want that kind of care. It’s taken a lot of work to get my voice to where it is today.”
Vocally, Wagenblast can do both the lower register “guy voice”, or the higher register, timbre and tone of a woman, leaving transit authorities a choice. “I’m still comfortable using the guy voice – if Newark needs an updated recording for the AirTrain we don’t want it to have two different voices for different segments. But if I took on a new project, I would have to say you have a couple of choices.”
As it turns out, the subway isn’t an ideal place for self-expression, though consistency is important so that it doesn’t, she says, sound “singsong-y”.
There are other changes she has noticed using the transport system. “Having oestrogen and not testosterone in my system, I definitely needed help from the conductor with my heavy suitcase. Safety was something I was more aware of. I’m not as hesitant to ask for help.
“I recognise that I have benefitted from male privilege all of my life. Had I been assigned female at birth I may not have had the career I enjoyed. And obviously I did not have to worry about getting pregnant. But I’m certainly not becoming a woman so I can benefit from the gains that have been made by feminists.”
She has had support from the people she knows, even casually. The reception from her friends from Catholic university has been similarly supportive, and she’s working with her high school classmates for their 50th reunion without issue. “It’s wonderful,” she says. “Times have changed.” Hateful comments have only come from people who do not know her, she says.
Her relationships with female associates, she says, have also benefited from her public presentation. “They’re comfortable and accept me and it’s been one of the great pleasures.” In a radio announcement in January, Wagenblast made it clear that she was not about to be offended by missteps in how she was addressed.
“When I came out I said please don’t worry about accidentally offending me, using the wrong word or pronouns,” she says. “That’s just part of trans people gaining greater understanding. I don’t want to people feel like they’re walking on eggshells or they’re going to, quote-unquote, be cancelled.”
One of the side-effects of a public transition is, she hopes, to give encouragement to those who are still not out. Each time somebody in the subway station hears her voice, she says, they will know that LGBTQ people are part of everyday life. “We’re not just on TV or people you read about that are somewhere else but an intricate part of day-to-day living. I think that can be very powerful.”
English (US)