Back To the Main SiteThe AGA Youth Group
The A Gender Agenda youth group met for coffee this evening at Tosselini’s. I fucking love our youth group! Its for people under 30 who are trans, intersex, gender questioning, queer, genderqueer, and the friends and partners of any or all of the above. We’ve only had two meetings so far, but each one was heaps of fun, and we’ve already made four new friends, who I hope keep coming along.
Canberra is a pretty sleepy little town, and even though we’re national leaders with regard to Gay and Lesbian rights, we tend to be a bit behind the times when it comes to queerness and gender diversity. There seems to be a pretty persistent belief that all trans people are straight elderly ladies who started out as boys. Tonight as I sat at a table with a pair of cute radical queer dykes, young trans men, and young queer trans women, I felt very at home, and mused that most people don’t even realise that we have this many gender diverse and radically queer people in Canberra, let alone this being a rather smallish gathering of a narrowly defined demographic. I really hope that AGA’s youth group continues to grow, both in numbers, and in diversity of genders, sexualities, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and abilities.
We started talking about what kinds of things we might do in the future, and floated such ideas, as having a glamorous and highly silly dress up party, a craft-a-noon, going bowling, or just meeting up for another coffee. We’ll also be adding a mailing list for the youth group to use for discussion and organising, so no doubt things will start to happen.
I’d like to finish off this post, by thanking Robyn and Gabrielle for taking over the task of organising the Youth Group. You are both AWESOME!
2009 Sydney Mardi Gras
Our Entry in Mardi Gras was a raging success. We had 22 people show up on the day to march with us. We wore fantastic green t-shirts, had awesome placards, and made waves with the crowd, the other floats, and the commentators alike!
It was my first ever Mardi Gras, and the feeling of marching with 21 other trans people, genderqueers, and our friends and families while being cheered on by the crowd, was an incredibly empowering experience. We handed out hundreds of stickers that said “Gender Rights are Human Rights” and lollipops with “Trannies are Sweet” written on them. Trans people and their supporters in the crowd screamed “I love trannies too!” at us from the sidelines, and we had post op FTM’s flash their scars at us.
I was thrilled to see the level of support for our community from other LGBT organisations, and from the wider community. Some people were obviously confused by our marching group, and our placards gave more than a few cause to pause and think about their preconceived notions of what a trans person looks like, and what they experience.
So, maybe next year YOU will be marching with us too! :)
Gender Diversity Day BBQ
We’ve decided to call TransAction Day, Gender Diversity Day here in Canberra (and hopefully Australia when it catches on elsewhere!)
To celebrate Gender Diversity Day we will be holding a BBQ. It will be a laid back, no pressure event. A bunch of us will be around eating food and hanging out for several hours, so even if you don’t feel like staying for an entire meal, feel free to just drop by and say hello.
This event celebrates Gender Diversity in all its forms, and so we encourage everyone to come along… whether you are gay, lesbian, straight, trans, non-trans, genderqueer, a parent, a partner, or a friend of someone who would like to come. The more the merrier is our philosophy!
The BBQ will be in Glebe Park at 1pm on the 28th of February. Bring your friends, and family and partners. This is a kid friendly event, and is definitely open to non-trans people as well as trans people and their families.
Request 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
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