Monday 3 November 2014

Interview with Jessica Vorster


Monika: Today’s interview will be with Jessica Vorster, a young video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Jessica!
Jessica: Hi Monika! Thanks for inviting me to do this interview!
Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Jessica: I’m a transgender woman, 22 years of age. I’m just trying to find my place on this world. I’ve been living full time since December 2013 and have been on HRT for a year and 10 moths now. I’m a happy go lucky kind of person that likes to talk and help people. 
Monika: Why did you decide to share your transition details on YouTube?
Jessica: At first I wanted to raise money in order to go for surgeries, but people wanted to hear the story behind the story so I have been working on a few new videos that will be up on YouTube soon.

Sunday 2 November 2014

Interview with Alice Denny


Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Alice Denny, a British poet, and transgender activist from Brighton, England. Hello Alice!
Alice: Hello Monika, it’s a pleasure to meet you - so to speak.
Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Alice: Well I came out and transitioned later in life than most, after bringing up a family. As such transition has given me a new lease in life, a new energy. It has presented some interesting issues with relationships. I Identify primarily as a woman, parent, poet etc. and trans is more coincidental, a reference to my development that has little current relevance. Although in practice it has a big impact on the way I interact in the world and the world treats me.
Monika: Some time ago you attended a meeting in Prague, the Czech Republic. How important is networking for transgender activism?
Alice: I did Monika but I don’t think of myself as an activist as such; there are some fabulous activists and advocates out there. Meeting people from other areas and countries – from the next street even- is so important because it reminds us we are not alone, helps share experience and work to fight prejudice – which is considerable around the world.

Thursday 30 October 2014

Interview with Abby Grace Hughes


Monika: Today’s interview will be with Abby Grace Hughes, known to friends and family as Abby-Grace. She is a video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube and on her blog. Hello Abby!
Abby: Hello Monika, thank you for this privilege. So much has happened in my life. From coming out at around 6, to struggling through puberty and school. Touring the UK in my Rock band in the 80s and early 90s. Transitioning in my early 20s to turning away to have children.
Three gender dysphoria caused nervous breakdowns putting me into psychiatric help. Coming out. Starting hormones. Changing name. Being beaten up for being trans. Life threatened. Had people arrested. I falsely had the police called out on me. Falsely tricked and lied about. Ran away from the UK to the States. Got stuck in Germany during my connecting flight because of a slight error on my Visa which cost an extra $800. 2 years RLE now as good as complete. Finding work here and processing my Visa. Then I’m off to college if I can.
I think I am now better equipped to help people having gone through it all, so there was a reason.

Sunday 26 October 2014

Interview with Venus de Mars


Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Venus de Mars, a transgender artist from Minnesota, poet, singer, songwriter, painter, and leader of the punk-glam band All the Pretty Horses. Hello Venus!
Venus: Hey Monika ;)
Monika: When did you decide that music will be your profession?
Venus: Ha! OK... well Hmm. I guess it started as a desire way back when I was a kid... you know. The glamour... seeing the portrayals, lifestyles, etc. in media from back then. That kind of attracted me to it all...but I was way too shy to sing... I didn't think I could really, so I just concentrated on playing the guitar. Started on acoustic when I was like 10 years old... and did basic lessons, but I branched out on my own and tried to learn classical, and flamenco... all that stuff, but rock still called to me.

Friday 17 October 2014

Interview with Alessandra Bernaroli


Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Alessandra Bernaroli, a transsexual activist from Bologna in Italy, whose legal victory was an important step for transgender rights in Italy. Hello Alessandra!
Alessandra: Hello Monika, thanks for this opportunity to talk about LGBTI Civil Rights!
Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Alessandra: I was born a man in 1971 and lived my life forcing myself to adhere to the image that the society established for people who had a male appearance. In my teen years, there was neither Internet nor so much “correct” information about transsexualism, so I always tried to deny my intimate feelings, believing that they were wrong and that it was happening only to me and no one else in the world.
However, that was not true; now I know it! So I behaved trying to look as manly as possible, and I succeeded easily in doing this also because of my physical appearance, which was, at that time, indubitably a male appearance both in aspect as well as in attitude. Year after year my deep feeling to be a woman didn’t disappear, of course.
I graduated in economics, served one year in military service, practiced charted accounting and finally worked as a clerk. In the meantime, I found love and I got married. Until then, it was 2005, and I was a man!

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Interview with Natalie Colleen Gates


Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Natalie Colleen Gates, an American writer, blogger, the author of Straight Boy/Queer Girl: A Memoir. Hello Natalie! 
Natalie: Hi Monika!
Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Natalie: Oh my God, I'm so bad at things like that. You'd think being a blogger and having just written a memoir I'd be better at it. I don't know: I'm 32. I live with my dog Victoria Elizabeth in Richmond, Virginia.
Monika: Why did you decide to write your autobiography “Straight Boy/Queer Girl: A Memoir“ (2014)?
Natalie: To make money [laughing] at first. I've been blogging for a long time and people for the most part like my writing I thought I should take some of the energy I put into blogging and write a book. As I got into the project I realized it was important because I was writing the trans* memoir I wish existed before I transitioned.
All the memoirs I've read start with the trans* person in the present after they've transitioned. I didn't want to do that. I wanted to share my experience of thinking I might transition but not being sure about it. I really wanted to share with my readers how I came to the conclusion that I needed to transition.
I also wanted to share how what I was going through as a closeted trans* person was similar and how it was different from other closeted people's experiences.

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