Back To the Main SiteRequest for Interviewees
Hat tip to Nix for this:
FOR CLEO MAGAZINE
Hi folks,
I’m looking to interview two or three young couples (20-35-ish), in which one partner is basically a straight female and the other is trans, for an article for CLEO magazine.
The article is looking at issues facing women whose male partner or boyfriend announces they wish to transition to female; and/or women who have been dating a guy who’s a trans man.
Let me say straight away that is no sensationalist piece aimed to titillate; it’s a chance to educate half a million readers of a mainstream women’s magazine about some of the challenges faced by couples in which one person is trans, how to overcome them, handling family and friends, ‘do’s and don’ts’ and so on.
About me: I am a freelance journalist who writes predominantly for the GLBTIQ media. I write for SX, Sydney’s weekly magazine for the queer community, am the former editor of Cherrie, which during my time was very trans and genderqueer friendly, and the co-editor of a new book called Trans People in Love (Routledge 2008), an anthology of real-life stories by trans people from across the globe of their experiences of being in love with a significant other or others. I am a lesbian who’s been in a relationship with a beautiful trans woman (co-editor Tracie O’Keefe) for 15 years. Tracie has on more than one occasion been ‘fitted up’ by mainstream media seeking to sensationalise her trans status so rest assured I know how horrible that is and would never put another person through that. I figure that if a mainstream women’s magazine such as CLEO is willing to run an article along these lines, they may as well have a writer who understands the issues and sensitivity required!
The reason I’m looking for younger couples and ones in which one of the partners is essentially a straight female (although their sexuality may change or broaden and this would be great to discuss) is simply that this is CLEO’s demographic (I’m not being ageist!).
I’m happy to do interviews by phone, email or in person (central Sydney only). CLEO would also like one couple to be photographed, so please indicate if you’re up for this (if not, but you’re willing to be interviewed anyway, please still get in touch).
Deadline: I need to do interviews by Friday 6 February.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS CALLOUT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS, COLLEAGUES, NETWORKS ETC.
Thank you in advance for your help.
My contact details are:
Katrina Fox
Freelance journalist & editor
Ph +61 (0) 2 9399 8796
Mob 0404 089 045
Email info[AT]katrinafox[DOT]com
Web www.katrinafox.com
AGA’s Plans for 2009
A Gender Agenda have plenty of plans for 2009, we hope that something coming up tickles your fancy.
Sex and Gender Diversity Community Survey
The survey closed early in January, and we’re currently in the process of analysing the data. Once we’ve looked at the info, and pulled out some interesting factoids we’ll publish our findings to the AGA Website. We hope that our data will be instrumental in convincing the ACT Government that people undergoing medical transition are of a significant enough number in the ACT to have services and funding provided to us.
T-Boy Get-Togethers
Most of the trans guys in Canberra have at some point thought that they are the only FTM in the area, but we actually have a pretty healthy population! We hold regular informal get togethers for FTM Spectrum folk (not everyone there identifies as a man… I for example, identify as a genderqueer), and so if you’ve been looking for a laid back and chillaxed group to hang out with, shoot me an email at webmaster@agenderagenda.org.au and I’ll add you to our email list. This year we hope to be able to hold bi-monthly events, a dinner or coffee night on a weekday evening after work, and a Saturday lunch event – picnics, and bbq’s etc.
TransAction! Day – Feb 27
A Gender Agenda are looking forward to the first ever TransAction! Day. TransAction! Day is eventually intended to be a day of education in schools, and as such has already stirred up some controversy in the USA. The Illinois Family Institute is calling it ‘Deviant Transgender Day‘ which I think is a very amusing, and catchy name for it.
We don’t have the resources to plan anything really spectacular for this year, but will probably hold a BBQ on the weekend following, and send out press releases in the weeks prior.
Mardi Gras Gaggle – March 7
A Gender Agenda are marching with Tranny Panic for Trans Rights in the Australian Mardi Gras Parade. We’ve got a group of about 16 takers so far, but the more the merrier! I hope you’ll consider coming along. For more information or to register your interest, contact our Mardi Gras organiser Robyn Grafkin at baglieg@gmail.com ASAP.
Butch Auction Fundraiser
We hope to run a Fundraising party at the end of June. We’re aiming to coincide with New York Cities annual Trans Day of Action. The night should be loads of fun, with performances from local musicians and Drag Kings and Drag Queens. Tranny Panic will also be running an interactive performance to raise awareness about trans people and our constant battle over toilets.
If you are interested in performing at the Butch Auction, or you are some-kind-of-masculine identified man, woman or genderqueer and wish to be Auctioned off to raise money for A Gender Agenda’s work, please shoot me an email at webmaster@agenderagenda.org.au.
Workshops and Education
Later in the year, perhaps September and/or October (dates to be announced), we plan on holding a series of workshops about issues facing the sex and gender diverse community. We want to cover a variety of topics, from dating and sexuality, raising children outside of traditional gender roles, the intersection of trans and intersex needs, and how to deal with trans people within your organisation. The workshops will cost money, so that we can afford to fly presenters in from other cities, and so that we can book a nice venue and so on. We will be offering subsidies and free places to sex and gender diverse identified individuals who would like to attend, but cannot afford it.
Possible Film Festival
Pending news about sponsorship of the event, we may be holding a “Breaking the Binary” film festival, for talented young film makers who want to say something about being sex and gender diverse. More news about this will be published to the AGA website if we can get sponsorship.
Well! Its going to be a busy year! I hope that something there appeals to you!
Annual Report 2008
2008 was a great year for A Gender Agenda.
We had lots of new members join, including yours truly. We also made friends with the New Canberra Transgender Network, which means that we shall be more aware of trans women’s issues, and they shall be more aware of trans men. We held a combined Christmas party in December that saw record numbers of the Canberra sex and gender diverse community get together and socialise. We all had an awesome time, at a very pleasant restaurant. We even had visitors from Sydney and Wollongong come all the way down to hang out with us.
We made a submission to HREOC’s Sex and Gender Diversity project, and participated in their community consultation. Although we were disappointed in the decided focus of HREOC’s project, we look forward to seeing the recommendations that are made to the Federal government. We will be continuing to lobby the ACT Government to improve things in the ACT for the sex and gender diverse community.
A small delegation of our members attended a workshop in Sydney called “Gender Dysphoria to Gender Euphoria: Working Towards Gender Belonging”. (Leaflet can be downloaded from here). The workshop was held at the AIDS Council of New South Wales, and was conducted by Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad & Elsa Almas from Norway. The workshop was extremely inspiring, and we hope to hold something similar here in Canberra later this year.
In November we participated in SpringOut, the Canberra LGBTIQ Community Pride Festival. We had a stall next to NewCTN at the Fair Day, and held several events during the festival, including a film night, a Picnic/BBQ and a candle lit ceremony for Transgender Day of Remembrance. At the end of the festival, our Co-ordinator Peter Hyndal won an ACT Pride Award for his work with AGA, and contribution to forwarding trans rights and building a vibrant gender diverse community.
November also saw us launch a community survey in an attempt to learn more about the face of the ACT Sex and Gender Diverse community. We had 93 responses, which was far more than we expected, especially since we know that not all members of AGA or NewCTN actually filled in the survey. This has increased our estimate of the number of sex and gender diverse people in Canberra and the surrounding region to several hundred. It is clear that medical and other services are not nearly adequate, and we hope to be able to use the data we gathered to apply for a Health Pact grant to allow us investigate further how services in the ACT can be improved for the Sex and Gender Diverse community.
2009 looks to be an even bigger year, and I hope to see new faces at our events. If you would like to get involved in A Gender Agenda, or be notified of our events, don’t forget to subscribe to the Blogs RSS feed, or send an email to events-subscribe@agenderagenda.org.au to our join our email list.
« Previous Page
Recent Comments