Reduxx has learned that a prominent trans activist who served on the board of Transgender Michigan hoarded pornography and graphic images sexualizing young girls and teenagers. Vanessa Emma Goldman, who served as the director of 503(c) charity Transgender Michigan for 11 years, worked alongside the founder of the Trans Day of Visibility.
Trans Day of Visibility was created on March 31, 2009, by Rachel Crandall-Crocker, the executive director of Transgender Michigan. Crandall-Crocker worked closely with Goldman for over a decade, the latter even dedicating a birthday fundraiser to the trans activist group.
Previously known as Vincent Prygoski, Goldman had also worked as a senior associate librarian at the University of Michigan-Flint for almost two decades. During that time, and according to a statement from the University, Goldman was “very involved” in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Women’s Commission. He was also a former chair of UM-Flint’s Faculty Council.
Despite holding an influential position in aspects of UMF’s women’s programs, Goldman was simultaneously hoarding pornography and other disturbing images, as well as cataloguing photos of underage girls.
Reduxx has reviewed hundreds of images saved to Goldman’s online photo storage account – which in total amounted to over 70 webpages worth of content, with dozens of images per page. Among the photos “favorited” by Goldman are hundreds of pornographic images of young, naked women in various poses. In a few instances, the subjects appear to be underage.
Other images featured pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and naked or almost naked young girls or infants.
Some of the photos appear to have been taken from family photo albums elsewhere on the internet, with the subjects – all women and children – likely unaware that their images had been saved or stolen by Goldman.
While some of the images were not strictly “sexual” in nature – depicting nude children playing at the beach, or girls in gymnastics leotards, for example – Goldman had collected a significant amount of these images in the same album he had largely dedicated to actual pornography.
Many of the images include high school-aged cheerleaders in their uniforms, a theme Goldman appeared to enjoy as he frequently dressed up in used cheerleader uniforms himself.
Photos taken and uploaded by Goldman to his photo storage account depict him dressed in the uniforms both at home and at a public playground.
He would also edit some of his self-portraits in a manner resembling magazine covers, with names such as “American Cheerleader,” “Teen Queen,” “Cheerleader,” and “Playboy.”
A lesser amount of the pornography gathered by Goldman involves crossdressing men, pictured posing in women’s underwear, such as brassieres and lingerie. There are also images of famous pin-up model Bettie Page, known for photoshoots involving BDSM activities, such as bondage and flagellation.
Accounts followed by Goldman incorporate themes of transvestic fetishism and a genre of pornography known as sissification.
One profile followed by the trans activist, belonging to a middle-aged man who calls himself “Sissy Bella,” shows him wearing nipple clamps, chains, or wearing lingerie and dresses – occasionally captioning the photos with words such as “whore” and “slut.”
In 2011, Goldman was invited to perform for the University of Flint Michigan’s rendition of The Vagina Monologues. During the event, he wore a t-shirt reading “this is what a feminist looks like.” He also gushed over his selection for the role specifically because he was transgender.
“I read part of the monologue titled ‘They Beat the Girl Out of Me’ which is about transgender women like me,” Goldman wrote of the event, adding, “It was SUCH an honor to be in the VMs, even though I do not even have a vagina.”
While alive, Goldman also displayed his support for a transgender diaper fetishist known as Sophie Labelle.
Labella is a Canadian trans-identified male cartoon artist most well-known for his series Assigned Male. In February of 2021, Labelle came under widespread scrutiny after it was discovered that he had quietly been producing and posting diaper fetish art on stealth social media accounts, including “furry art” site FurAffinity.
Facing the beginnings of a scandal, Labelle attempted to “come out” as a ‘little’ on Facebook — a person who role-plays as a child during sexual encounters. As backlash on social media increased, Labelle then admitted to creating the “diaperfur” art as part of a “kink.”
Transgender Michigan (TGMI), the organization Goldman oversaw, is still headed by Crandall-Crocker, the founder of the Trans Day of Visibility. TGMI is widely cited in media reports celebrating the Trans Day of Visibility, which occurs on March 31 every year. In recent years, the initiative has been observed internationally, and, on March 30, 2023, the White House issued “A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility.”
Signed by US President Biden, the statement asserts that March 31 “celebrates the joy, strength, and absolute courage of some of the bravest people I know.”
In recognition of Transgender Day of Remembrance in 2021, the Thompson Library where Goldman had worked shared a photo of him.
On Goldman’s left arm, a tattoo of an illustrated character from the children’s show My Little Pony can be seen, surrounded by butterfly wings.
The character is emblematic of an online subculture known as “bronies,” or adult men who watch the children’s cartoon. The fandom is controversial, with critics accusing those involved of harboring pedophilic inclinations.