Trans Interviews!

Hey All :)
So here are the interviews that we (the Ghosts) did for our poster project...enjoy!

1. Do you consider yourself transgender, transsexual, both, or neither? What does this mean to you?

I consider myself a trans man, but honestly sometimes I forget that I am trans because I feel like I was born a male just a little different from cisgendered males…Until it comes to certain more personal things then I am kind of forced to remember that I am a little different.

 I guess, neither. I consider myself male. I've met many people that enjoy having a stereotype or label but I don't. I'm just me. I'm male. I rarely think about my past or growing up as female.

I consider myself genderqueer.  For me, this identity resides under the "trans" umbrella.  There are many ways of being trans and queer.  Some come with surgical and hormonal body changes, others are signified by fashion and visual presentation choices.  I believe that both gender identity and sex are multiple.  If no two individuals have the same DNA or life experience, the binary is shown to be a social construction.

2. When did you start to identify with the gender you currently identify with?

2007 Fulltime.

I started taking T on December 29th 2007. People would ask me when I wanted them to start referring to me as male...I just told them when I tell you. When my voice starts to change...physical changes start to happen. I didn't want to confuse people if I still looked like a girl, sounded like a girl if my friends started referring to me as a he. I was more worried about other people and their comfort level than my own. After 7-9 months of being on T, a situation happened at work...my friends came in to work to visit me...they had already started to refer me as he...however my co workers had not...we were having a conversation and before you knew it my friends were saying he and my co workers were saying she...I have never been more confused in my life. Lol, neither were they. No one knew who they were talking about and that's when I realized I needed everyone to start the change with me. That's the day I decided to move forward. I had a conversation with Management and they started saying he and it slowly trickled down to my coworkers and before you knew it, there were no "she's" to describe me, only "he's". Of course it took a few months and when they would accidently slip up I would just give them a look and they'd apologize...I wouldn't get mad. I felt bad for making them possibly feel bad or embarrassing them.

About twelve years ago, I began to perform in drag.  Being a drag queen, coupled with writing academically on gender studies, provided me with a constructive outlet from which to explore and define my identity.

3. Is having a sex change something that you want to have done/have done? Is it important to you?

I would like to have chest surgery as soon as possible but unfortunately sexual reassignment surgery is not covered by insurance and it is expensive. It is very important to me to have chest surgery in order for me to feel more comfortable in my body. I don’t know how I feel about having bottom surgery. For one it is very expensive and the results are horrible.

I mentioned above about T...I had a full hysterectomy in January of 2011. That was my first and only major surgery I have ever had. I want more surgeries in the future. I would at the very very least like the top surgery. Bottom surgeries...only if I have enough money and everything "works" normal. If it doesn't, then I'll just have to work with what I have...but DEFINITELY having top surgery in the future.

I have thought about surgery, but have not come to the decision that it is necessary for my emotional and intellectual survival.  I have made the decision that I do not want to take hormones.  If it ever became financially possible for me, I would probably elect to have surgery.  Whether one identifies as trans or not, a person always has parts of their body that they would like to alter.  My idea of an esthetically pleasing body (for myself) would include top surgery.  However, I was lucky to be born as I am and can get by with a more 'androgynous' body type.

4. How do you relate to the GLBT community? Are you part of any sort of groups or organizations?

I don’t feel like I relate to the GLBT community as much as I did when I identified as a lesbian. Mostly I think it is because a lot of people in the community don’t actually know what being trans is all about and honestly I receive more negativity from inside the GLBT community than I do outside of it. I perform as a drag king at the Townhouse in St. Paul. I also do traveling Gender Show and Tell shows at various colleges speaking about myself and how I came to be a performer.

I am not a part of any organization. I do go to Pride every year but that's really it.

I am the "Q" in the LGBTQ community.  There are still some people/groups in our communities that do not respect queer identified people.  They believe that there are only two types of people: gay or straight/ male or female.  When a person situates themselves outside of these boundaries, sometimes others feel threatened or confused.  

5. Have you experienced any sorts of discrimination in housing/employment/in general or do you feel pretty accepted in your community?

For the most part I feel pretty accepted in my community. There is a big trans population here in Minneapolis/St. Paul so I think that helps.

I feel accepted as much as I think I could be. Not everyone knows and I keep it that way. Especially at work and in my neighborhood. I'm not sure what they would do and I'm not about to find out. I suppose you could say I'm "stealth". I have just recently changed my name and sex on my driver’s license so that helps tremendously. Still waiting for my birth certificate so I can legally change it at work. Everyone who does know are very supportive and ask me questions if they have any...I have always welcomed any questions they might have, even if it could possibly be offensive or embarrassing. It's the only way they learn...it's preventing ignorance. I want questions asked.

Every day is a learning and teaching day.  I think that it is very important to fight for social justice and gender equality at every moment- even if it means explaining for the 100th time what being ' a genderqueer boi' means to me.  At times, in the past, I faced discrimination from individuals in the gay and lesbian community- and on a rare occasion from other 'trans' identifies people.  (Mostly the assimilationists.)

6. Do you feel accepted/supported by your friends and family in regards to your current lifestyle?

I feel accepted and supported by my friends. My family is a different story but perhaps one day they will come around.

Friends, yes. Family, kinda, they support me but still have trouble with the pronouns. I don't push the subject. I don't get mad. Cripes, I don't even look at them or react to the "she" when it comes to my family. Why? I guess I just think they've known me for my whole life and 27 of those years I was a girl...I cut them slack. They do know how important it is to me so they do try. They try so hard. The majority of the time they just say my name and not a pronoun. Hey, whatever works!
On a side note, it's not a lifestyle. It's not really even a choice. This would have been the last thing I would have ever chose for myself or my worst enemy...it sucks to be this way. I would give anything to be "normal". Sometimes I do feel like a freak, that there's something wrong with me, I think why would anyone ever love me or be with me? I'm not what I see in the mirror, I'm not what I feel on the inside...how can you explain such things? Why would anyone ever choose to be this way? Whenever a conversation would arise on this topic of lifestyle and choice of being gay, lesbian, bi or trans I always ask them...what's your favorite color, least favorite? What foods do you love/hate? Why do you feel that way? What makes you straight? They answer, then I ask them WHY do YOU FEEL that WAY??? They get confused. What makes you love the color blue and hate orange??? Idk, they say. I tell them that's exactly how I feel...that's how boys feel who like boys...they just feel that way. There's no explanation. It makes you who you are supposed to be. I believe and so does my mom, that you're born this way. Just like anything else...some love spinach, others hate it. Some like rap music, some hate it....just like everything.

YES.  I am lucky to have found a very supportive group colleagues and friends.

7. Looking back at your past relationships, do you find yourself attracted to a particular gender over others? Have you ever been attracted to/dated others in the trans community?

Well before I started transitioning I identified as a lesbian so I only dated women. After I started transitioning I realized that I was queer and that I liked a person for a person not because of their gender. So yes I am attracted to and I have dated other people in the trans community.

I have always been attracted to girls...in school I made myself say I like a boy so no one think otherwise. Kids are cruel. I didn't need more things to be teased about. I have always been drawn to male bodies. Not that I wanted to be "with" them, but more I want to "be" them. I want to have their body. I have never dated or been attracted to anyone being trans. It's only been straight or bi women. I love girls. 

I find myself sexually attracted to liberal social ideologies (or rather, to those who possess these thoughts.)  I do not see the body- out of social context, so i have never just dated someone based on how they look or what their genitalia may or may not be.  :)