Aidan
An outspoken trans activist for many years, Aidan founded Gender Odyssey in 2001 – an international conference focused on the needs and interests of transgender and gender diverse children of all ages, their families and supporters, and the professionals who serve them. Currently he runs nine support groups for trans kids and families of trans and gender diverse children in the Seattle WA area. He was also instrumental in creating the online community at Transfamilies.org providing support groups, discussion groups, events, FAQs and a host of other resources.
Genderdiversity.org provides diversity training and programming for professionals, and support for gender diverse children and their families.
Transfamilies.org provides online support, information and an online community.
And the Gender Odyssey Conference Website is at: Genderodyssey.org
Aidan’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference in 2018, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria. MTHF provided onmyplanet.ca with a space to record stories on site during the conferences of 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Cheryl
Cheryl is a trans woman currently living in the UK. She talks about the struggle of being trans in the 70s and 80s and her expectation that she would lose her family, her friends and her job when she transitioned. Cheryl found acceptance in the Sci-Fi community and has won four Hugo awards for her fanzine. She is also involved in trans-activism and provides trans awareness training with The Diversity Trust. https://www.diversitytrust.org.uk/
Cheryl’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference in 2018, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria. The MTHF conference graciously allowed onmyplanet.ca to record stories on site during the conference. onmyplanet.ca also recorded stories at the MTHF 2014 and 2016 conferences.
Jade
Jade came out as trans in the early 2000s. From their teenage experiences in Ottawa, Jade felt there was a lack of acceptance and understanding for trans youth in the LGBTQ community. Ultimately this inspired them to create Trans Youth Ottawa – the first trans youth support group in the city. Jade speaks about the excitement of starting the group and the continued challenge of keeping the group’s history alive.
Jade’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference in 2018, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria. The MTHF conference graciously allowed onmyplanet.ca to record stories on site during the conference. onmyplanet.ca also recorded stories at the MTHF 2014 and 2016 conferences.
Shaan
Shaan is a trans person of Jewish and Roma heritage. His mixed identity led him to create a series of oral history archives about LGBTQI people with different faiths and racial backgrounds. His latest project Rainbow Pilgrims explores the stories of LGBTQI migrants living in the UK. Through these stories Shaan was able to realize his own identity and fully transition. Shaan currently works in London as a heritage manager and is looking forward to continuing to collect oral histories of LGBTQI people.
Find out more about Shaan’s projects at: rainbowpilgrims.com, twilightpeople.com, rainbowjews.com, And you can find the Twilight People App on Google Play.
Shaan’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference in 2018, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria. The MTHF conference graciously allowed onmyplanet.ca to record stories on site during the conference. onmyplanet.ca also recorded stories at the MTHF 2014 and 2016 conferences.
Harlan
Harlan is a member of the Saddle Lake Reserve, White Fish Lake Band of The Cree First Nation, and grew up up on his mother’s reserve, The Beaver Lake Indian Reserve. Harlan describes his experience of growing up a “sissy boy Indian” (his term) and how these fundamental characteristics have developed into the foundation of his strengths. Harlan is an avid advocate and activist for Two-Spirit people. While living in New York he founded the North East Two Spirit Society. Harlan is also the founder and managing editor of the Two spirit Website: TwoSpiritJournal.com He has served on the Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV and AIDS (Obama appointed). Currently Harlan is a PhD Candidate at UBC doing Two-Spirit research and is developing the first Two Spirit childrens book entitled: Grandma Susie Can’t Go Hunting
Harlan’s story is one of a series of stories recorded in conjunction with the Gender Ally project. In partnership with Artemis Place Alternative High School in Victoria, onmyplanet.ca has developed a series of 15 workshops on Trans, Two-Spirit and Gender non-conforming inclusion. All workshop videos are viewable online, and all workshop materials are free to download. onmyplanet.ca gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Victoria Foundation on the genderally.ca project.
Erica
Erica is a trans woman who talks about her personal struggle with gender identity and internalized transphobia. After denying her gender for many years she began transition in her early 50’s. As a successful business woman in Minneapolis, she feels it is important to give back to her community and support others. Since transitioning she has become involved with many charitable organizations.
Erica’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria in March of 2016. The MTHF conference provided onmyplanet.ca with a space to record stories on site during the conferences of 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Abby
Abby is a young trans woman who recounts the handful of things that contributed to her transition. Abby considers gender and sexuality, keeping in mind the recent social and political developments that allowed her to pick and choose her various options around transition. Her choices extend way beyond the binary of male and female. Abby expresses her gratitude for being trans at this point in history. She talks about being criticized for not being “trans enough” and considers what signals might have brought her gender issues forward somewhat sooner. Ultimately though, it’s the idea of ‘being yourself’ that resonates with her.
Abby’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria in March of 2016. The MTHF conference provided onmyplanet.ca with a space to record stories on site during the conferences of 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Carrie Lynn
Carrie Lynn was a police officer in Sudbury for 18 years and in 2015 moved into a management position in human resources. Carrie Lynn talks about her experience working with the transgender community members in Sudbury to train over 400 Sudbury Police officers, and update the policies and practices of the Sudbury Police Service. The results include the developing friendships between Carrie Lynn and her transgender community partners Rita and Vincent, and a video that promotes awareness of transgender issues and concerns. Their video can be seen on youtube at: Creating Awareness and Understanding of the Transgender Community
Carrie Lynn’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria in March of 2016. The MTHF conference provided onmyplanet.ca with a space to record stories on site during the conferences of 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Velvet
Velvet is an activist and an early pioneer in getting the BC Medical Services Plan (MSP) to pay for transition (corrective) surgeries. She is a fetish sex worker in Vancouver, and has been an activist for sex workers for years (esp. prior to the investigation of the Picton murders) in BC and across Canada. She was a founder of Westenders Against Violence Everywhere (WEAV) in Vancouver and lobbied extensively to challenge the prostitution laws in Canada.
You can find Velvet online at: velvetsteele.com/
Velvet’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Symposium, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria in March of 2016.The MTHF conference provided onmyplanet.ca with a space to record stories on site during the conferences of 2014, 2016 and 2018.
Kori
Kori lives quite happily in the country growing food, making babies and being self sufficient. Kori has been active in the non-profit service sector for many years and now runs online classes and workshops helping people to build community and work together in larger networks such as ‘Resilience Building for Trans Folks and Our Allies‘. Kori can be found online HERE
Kori’s story is one of a series of stories collected at the Moving Trans History Forward Conference, put on by the Transgender Archives at the University of Victoria in March of 2016. The MTHF conference provided onmyplanet.ca with a space to record stories on site during the conferences of 2014, 2016 and 2018.