Showing posts with label Transactivist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transactivist. Show all posts

Wednesday 6 March 2024

Interview with Lilith Primavera


Monika: Lilith Primavera is an Italian actress, singer and LGBTQI+ activist, one of the beloved faces of the TV series “Le fate ignoranti”, directed by Ferzan Özpetek. She was born in Rome and has worked in various professions such as a radio host, author, poet, and performer. She has also appeared in several films including “Mamma + Mamma” and “Anima bella”. As a singer, she has released several electropop singles such as “Vanilla”, Polvere e Pelle”, “Molto”, “Taboo”, “Goodbye My Lover”, “Vieni a Prendermi”, “Nuda”, “Quattro Parole”, and “AMAMI”. She has also given speeches at events such as Carla 2020, where she spoke about the importance of LGBTQ+ rights. Thank you so much for finding some time to chat with me.
Lilith: Thank you Monika and thank you for your precious research work.
Monika: Lilith is such a nice name. When I checked it up, I realized that it comes from Mesopotamian and Jewish mythology, and it is a female figure, theorized to be the first wife of Adam and supposedly the primordial she-demon. Lilith is cited as having been banished from the Garden of Eden for not obeying Adam. Does the name match your character well? 
Lilith: As I tell in the podcast “MALAFEMMINA” (the first Italian podcast to talk about transition in the first person, created in 2020) on Storytel, directed by Chloè Barreau, this name is the legacy that my mother left me when I met her after many years of separation, right at the beginning of my life as a woman. I was 19 and we hadn't seen each other for over ten years: my parents divorced in the early 80s and I was entrusted to my father. I never saw my mother again who was a drug addict and my father's family kept me away from her. 

Monday 4 March 2024

Interview with Alicia Jane Ryder


Monika: Alicia Jane Ryder, an American trans activist and former US Government official, is my lovely guest today. Hello Alicia! Thank you for accepting my invitation.
Alicia: Hello Monika! Thank you for having me.
Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Alicia: I am a 71-year-old transgender woman, completely transitioned through surgeries, 7 sessions, 57 hours total. Retired from Government service after 51 years total, 26 for the feds and the balance for the state of Oregon.
Monika: What inspired you to be an LGBT advocate?
Alicia: I and my wife are both transgender. Together for 25 years married one day after it became legal.
Monika: How did you meet your wife? Was it love at first sight?
Alicia: We were both working on social issues and got a committee assignment together.

Friday 16 February 2024

Interview with Alessandra Alferes


Monika: My lovely guest today is Alessandra Alferes, a transactivist, content creator, pianist, and mother of two children from São Paulo, Brazil. She is a screenwriter, producer, director, and editor of the TransSaber channel and presenter of the VídeoCast “Café Trans”. Hello Ale! Thank you for accepting my invitation.
Ale: Hello, Monika! Thank you for the opportunity!
Monika: You are a woman of many talents. Could you say a few words about yourself?
Ale: I am a musician, conductor at UNESP, and professor of Music, Languages, Public Speaking and Performance. I have a specialization in Teaching and another in Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations. I give lectures on the LGBTQIAPN+ agenda at universities and schools and participate in podcasts as a guest, in addition to producing my own podcast through the TransSaber Channel. I am also the "mama" of a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.

Wednesday 7 February 2024

Interview with Michelle Karas


Monika: Today my guest is Michelle Karas, a Ukrainian transactivist and social media influencer. Hello Michelle! Thank you for accepting my invitation.
Michelle: Hello! I was very pleased to receive an invitation for an interview. I hope I will be able to answer all the questions thoroughly and well. Thank you for the invitation!
Monika: All the eyes of the free world are set on the war raging in Ukraine. Are you safe now?
Michelle: While there is a war in Ukraine, and every day there are air raid alarms and explosions in one or another region, I cannot say that I or other Ukrainians are safe. Now we are choosing the right to freedom, we are fighting for the existence of our country. Of course, no one in Ukraine will be safe until we win the war. People die every day, and this is a horror that has become a reality in the center of Europe in the 21st century.
On behalf of all Ukrainians, I want to sincerely thank the democratic countries for their great support, without you we would not have survived, your help is very much needed even now. Together we will defeat the autocracy.

Friday 2 February 2024

Interview with Vanessa Joy


Monika: Today I have invited Vanessa Joy, an American podcast hostess, transactivist, and politician. Vanessa is known for participating in Transcending Humanity, a podcast group of Transgender/Nonbinary/Gender friends, and her Vanesstradiol YouTube channel where she chronicles her transition. A couple of weeks ago, she ran as a Democratic candidate for the Ohio House District 50, but was disqualified from the ballot for omitting her previous name. Joy was one of four transgender candidates running for state office in Ohio, largely in response to proposed restrictions of the rights of LGBTQ+ people. She is also the stepdaughter of GOP state Representative Bill Roemer. Hello Vanessa! Thank you for accepting my invitation.
Vanessa: Thank you for reaching out!
Monika: It has been a couple of weeks since you were disqualified from the ballot. It must have been a bitter experience. 
Vanessa: It was very disappointing, yes. I was caught completely off guard; I figured that if I was going to be disqualified it would have been because I did have enough valid signatures. I did have enough, this obscure law was a complete surprise. It was too many people, really, which is why it became such big news for four weeks!

Thursday 1 June 2023

Interview with Nyke Slawik


Monika: There are some moments in the history of the transgender community that could be defined as game changers or landmarks that allow us to measure how successful we have become as a community as well as change the way we are perceived by society. The year 2021 was a special moment in Germany where Nyke Slawik and her fellow politician Tessa Ganserer together became the first openly transgender people elected to the German parliament. Today I have the pleasure of talking to one of them, Nyke Slawik, a German politician and member of the Bundestag representing the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia on the Alliance 90/The Greens list. Hello Nyke!
Nyke: Hello Monika!
Monika: It has been almost two years since you became a member of the German Parliament. I guess you must have had some expectations about the job. Did something surprise you?
Nyke: Yes, how little time there is to get everything done. Time and priorities are of the essence, especially if you don’t wanna burn out. In my first year in the Bundestag, I was a bit overwhelmed by everything.
Now I’m focussing on just a few projects that I can handle. First of all the ‘Selbstbestimmungsgesetz’ (self-id law) for trans people in Germany, the national action plan ‘Queer Leben’ (Queer Life) that is aimed at improving the lives of LGBTIQ people in Germany and making public transport more accessible to everyone.

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