Transgender School

Trigger warning: Today's episode touches on extremely sensitive and upsetting topics.

We’re addressing the harrowing hate crime at Colorado Springs’ Club Q on November 26th, where a shooter took the lives of Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump and injured another 25 people.

The killing was stopped by Richard Fierro, a US Army veteran who, unarmed, managed to stop the 22-year-old gunman. Mr. Fierro's heroic actions not only saved many lives, but also sent a powerful message: the LGBTQ+ community is fighting this war with love, not violence, and they are going to win it.

We discuss the underlying reasons behind the shooting, the rise of hate (as well as increasing support) for the LGBTQ+ community across the country, and the lack of humanity displayed by right-wing spokespersons when addressing grueling hate crimes.

Jackie also shares her thoughts on the tweaks to legislation that could prevent these and other attacks and the cracks in gun control that consistently fail to stop the wrong people from accessing firearms.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• About the brutal attack at Club Q (3:02)
• The things we can do to prevent this from happening again (7:08)
• What makes someone decide to get a gun and harm other human beings? (17:01)
• We must start asking who are we handing guns to (19:13)
• How can LGBTQ+ people feel safe? (23:23)

Connect with Jackie and Bridget:

• Transgender Support: Becoming a True Ally Video Course on Vimeo
• Transgender School Patreon Membership with all exclusive content
• Transgender School on Medium
• Instagram
• Website
• Facebook
• Community Facebook Group
• YouTube

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LGBTQIA+ Affirmative Therapy & Parenting

What does it actually mean to be an LGBTQIA+ affirming therapist or parent? It may not be what you think. Today we’re honored to welcome Dr. Rebeks Clark Mane and Aba Horthy, highly trained therapists who specialize in this field as well as having their own lived experience as members of the community. The four of us explore this critically important topic with more depth and detail than we’ve ever gotten into before.

What if we lived in a world where the model of responding to coming out (from parents, therapists, and others) was not about how hard life would be as an LGBTQIA+ person, but rather normalized and celebrated the experience and the uniqueness of the individual? This is what Rebeks and Aba teach us about in new, eye-opening ways.

We know that outcomes are significantly more positive when LGBTQIA+ youth and adults are affirmed, encouraged, heard, seen, and believed. But what specifically does that look like? And, what might we be doing unknowingly that’s causing harm, even if we think we’re trying to be supportive?

Rebeks is a transmasculine nonbinary therapist who loves working with folx in the "gray spaces" of identity. Aba is a queer mixed nonbinary therapist passionate about helping clients find and express their authentic selves. Both are Associate Marriage and Family Therapists and LGBTQIA+ affirmative therapists.

Throughout our conversation, Rebeks, Aba, and Jackie share parts of their story, their relationship with their families before and after coming out, and the role affirmative therapy (and non-affirmative therapy) played in their journey. They also provide tips and advice for therapists and parents dealing with their kids' transition, how to support queer, nonbinary, and trans kids, and how to avoid disconfirming words and actions that can cause deep trauma.

We also discuss the BIPOC queer, trans, and nonbinary experience, the white supremacist roots of the binary approach to queer representation, the informed consent model for gender affirming surgery, letters needed for surgery and their purpose, the need for cisgender folks to listen and learn with an open mind, gender policing, gender gatekeeping, media representation, the recent episode of The Problem with Jon Stewart called The War Over Gender, and much more.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

What LGBTQIA+ affirmative therapy is (3:54)

The current consent model for hormone therapy and surgery and the problems with it (7:07)

What parents can do when they’re struggling with their kids' transition (18:44)

Change in sexual orientation is entirely normal at any age and for any gender (21:12)

How to avoid the trauma of being disconfirmed for trans and nonbinary kids (30:40)

The damage gender reveal parties cause (43:32)

What trans, queer, and nonbinary people's mental health and suicide rates look like when they are surrounded by love and support (56:43)

Resources:

Horthy & Mane Therapy website

The Problem With John Stuart - The War Over Gender

Connect with Rebeks:

LinkedIn

Connect with Aba:

LinkedIn

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While it’s popular in some circles to suggest that LGBTQ+ activists are “canceling” people for transphobic or homophobic comments and that being canceled can ruin someone's career, we have plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Jackie's grandfather, Bill, hosts today's show with us and brings a very interesting view on cancel culture. He invites us to reflect on what is hidden behind the idea of being canceled and its real-world consequences.

We go through several examples of blatantly transphobic public figures who faced criticism and seem to expect sympathy for supposedly being canceled as a result of their harmful, cruel remarks about the transgender community. Exploring the controversies surrounding people such as Brittany Aldean, J.K. Rowling, Dave Chapelle, or Ricky Gervais, raises the question: were they really canceled?

We also analyze social media's role in spreading misinformation and exacerbating hate speech, and we take an honest look at ourselves to think about the content we decide to consume or support. We’d like to debunk myths about what actually prevents people from being considered allies, and bring a deeper awareness to the true consequences of our words and actions.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Bill's unique view on cancel culture and its effects (3:04)
• Do canceled people get anything canceled at all? (6:44)
• How semantics can totally distort the meaning of people's actions (8:04)
• The role of social media algorithms in defining what is allowed to be on our timeline and what isn't (12:30)
• Where and how we draw the line on the type of content we consume or decide to stop consuming (30:13)
• How being canceled can actually be really good for business (41:35)

Connect with Jackie and Bridget:

• Transgender Support: Becoming a True Ally Video Course on Vimeo
• Transgender School Patreon Membership with all exclusive content
• Transgender School on Medium
• Instagram
• Website
• Facebook
• Community Facebook Group
• YouTube

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we analyze the political landscape around LGBTQ rights, the latest rollback from the Supreme Court on abortion rights, and the clear intention of the Republican party to have control over people's bodies and turn the clock back on civil rights.

Far from falling into the blue or red dichotomy's rabbit hole, today's episode intends to invite you to pay attention to where democracy is heading and to look at the incipient growth of authoritarian tendencies, with groups in power making decisions about the lives of transgender folks, cis women, people of color, immigrants, and virtually every minority.

Jackie shares alarming statistics about people's beliefs, from people who firmly believe the country is run by a satanic cult to others who are convinced that patriots might have to resort to violence to "restore the country's order."

We also analyze how politicians use economic anxiety and the bitterness of those who feel they're missing a slice of the American dream to inflame xenophobic acts, violence, and hate against queer communities.

In addition, Jackie makes a call to action and explains the many ways you can get involved with, assist, and do something to support human rights, even if you live in a blue state or city.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• About the Republican Party's clear intention of legislating over people's bodies (7:06)
• Some of the most absurd and scary beliefs people now hold (15:39)
• The need for organizing, knocking on doors, and making phone calls to legislators (18:57)
• How politicians use people's economic anxieties and fears to manipulate them (22:31)
• About the alarming tendency to undo democracy (37:57)
• Jackie reminds us of the need to remain politically active and involved (41:57)

Resources Mentioned:

• United States map showing connections between abortion rights, trans rights, and percentage of residents with a master’s degree

Relevant Past Episodes:

• Ep. 17: The Truth About Anti-Trans Legislation
• Ep. 8: Medical care for Transgender youth w/ Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy

Connect with Jackie and Bridget:

• Transgender Support: Becoming a True Ally Video Course on Vimeo
• Transgender School Patreon Membership with all exclusive content
• Transgender School on Medium
• Instagram
• Website
• Facebook
• Community Facebook Group
• YouTube

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"When I told my lesbian love that I was transitioning, she sat with me for four hours, and I said, I don't know what this means for us. Because I didn't know any families who looked like us, any couples who were a trans man with a lesbian. I found out later that there's a lot of us."

In today's episode, you’ll get to hear the second half of our very special conversation with Peggy Gillespie, author of "Authentic Selves," and with Lana, Ted, Joseph, Tamira, and Christian, who shared their stories in Peggy's book.

In this second part of our conversation, you'll learn about Christian, a suburban trans man, who was always told that it’s not okay to be out. He now embraces infinite, unconditional love, which he uses to teach his kids not to be ashamed of who they are or who their family is. You'll also hear about Joseph, a trans man, and his wife Tamira and their experiences parenting a trans kid.

Additionally, we talk about couples that stay together after one of them transitions, Peggy talks about the importance of sharing her book and promoting these discussions, and much more.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• A bit about Christian's background and upbringing story (3:20)
• Christian's coming out story (9:20)
• The scary trans person the media warned you about (13:40)
• About couples that stay together after one of them transitions (18:10)
• How is it to be a Queer mom of a trans kid (25:40)
• How Peggy's book humanizes trans and nonbinary people (27:20)
• A bit about how Peggy's non-profit works (34:00)

Resources:

• Book: Peggy Gillespie - Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families
• Family Diversity Projects: a non-profit organization with award-winning traveling photo-text exhibits, co-founded by Peggy Gillespie and Gigi Kaeser

Connect with Jackie and Bridget:

• Transgender Support: Becoming a True Ally Video Course on Vimeo
• Transgender School Patreon Membership with all exclusive content
• Transgender School on Medium
• Instagram
• Website
• Facebook
• Community Facebook Group
• YouTube

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.