Call Me By My Name Project | A Trans Oral History Podcast

In this interview, Ryan & I are incredibly honored to travel to Carlton to interview Brenda Appleton. In 2015, Brenda was appointed as co-chair of the Victorian Government’s LGBTI Taskforce. In 2016 she was appointed to the Victorian Mental Health Expert Taskforce. In 2017 Brenda was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women. In 2018, Brenda received a Victoria Senior of the Year Award. In 2019 Brenda was awarded an Order of Australia Medal. Today Brenda talks incredibly openly with us about her love of art, theatre, bridge, sustainable living, and co-housing. She also shares her gender journey over the last 20 years with us. She speaks of giving family time to catch up to gender affirmation, how community services can better meet the needs of trans and gender diverse youth, the importance of end of life planning for transgender people, and providing hope for those that are coming behind. For further supports please check out our website at callmebymynameproject.com

In this episode, Lee and Ryan spend time with Amao, a proud Fa'afafine who uses the pronouns she/her/diva. Amao talks about the importance of cultural identity, her advocacy work, self-acceptance, love, shifts in language, and laying the foundations for future generations of trans and gender diverse folk. She generously shares her experiences and insights with us, and does so with both humor and grace. Just a note on audio: this conversation was recorded in a cafe, so there is a bit of background noise. We've done our best to minimize it, but you might need to turn the volume up for this episode!

Lee and Ryan head to Swinburne University's queer room to meet Jodie, who is 20 years old and uses she/her pronouns. Jodie shares her experiences growing up in Coffs Harbour, and later Wangaratta, before moving to Melbourne by herself to attend university in 2017. We talk about what it's like visiting Wangaratta since transitioning, gender euphoria, young adult fantasy literature, finding and building community, and coming out in the workplace.

In this episode, Lee and Ryan head to Northcote to meet Tara, who uses she/her pronouns. Among other things, Tara speaks to us about moving to Australia from a small town near Copenhagen, stencil art and rock-climbing, restrictive gender norms and undermining them, pronouns and visibility, how things have shifted since she came out 14 years ago, class, chosen family, and the importance of sharing job-seeking skills and knowledge, and improving access to employment for trans people.