Holy crap “Lost Stars” just acknowledged the existence of transgender people in the Star Wars universe. And not only that, but that transition technology and procedures exist and are relatively common knowledge.
I know some people could interpret this as an anti-trans women joke, but it honestly doesn’t read that way to me. This author, Claudia Gray, could have had Dak say something very different, either overly derisive of trans people (we all know how those jokes tend to go) or responding with agreement about how cold it is and not mentioning transition at all. Instead Gray has Dak say “There are easier ways to switch genders you know.” Aka if for some reason Thane wasn’t talking about the cold, it opened up that line of conversation (Perhaps Dak’s reason for saying it within the diegesis of the story). Aka letting any trans readers know that people like them exist in the Star Wars universe in canon, even if no named trans characters have appeared yet (I don’t think they have?).
Idk, this line blew me away and made me really happy. Gray has made people like me a canon part of the Star Wars universe with this line, and not in a way that marginalizes us or treats us as freaks (at least the way I read this line) and that makes me ludicrously pleased.
Update! I saw Claudia Gray at C2E2. I pointed out the line to her and said “Thank you so much for making people like me a part of Star Wars.” And then basically gave her a short version of my post on the line.
She gave me a big hug and told me that she was so glad I caught the line and read it that way, because that’s exactly how she meant it, and of course trans people are a part of the Star Wars universe. And then she signed my book like this:
I’m so overwhelmingly happy you guys. You have no idea.
Kimchi and Justice 