Transgender School

After spending over 30 years leading multi-billion-dollar brands in the fashion industry, and despite his tremendous success, Rob Smith felt he wasn't doing what he was supposed to do. During the day, he was a successful designer in corporate America, and at night, he would work with the LGBTQIA+ youth community. Rob found the answer he was looking for after a shamanic experience, an epiphany during a trip to Peru. That day Rob knew he had to create a gender-free, non-binary shopping environment, which would be the first of many steps to creating The Phluid Project.

Rob Smith is a Futurist, Activist, Educator, Retailer, Entrepreneur, Community Builder, Speaker, and the Founder and CEO of The Phluid Project. After his trip to Peru, Rob reconnected with his heritage as a third-generation Native American from the Ojibwa tribe, which inspired him to merge his 30 plus years of experience in fashion with decades of fighting for human rights and social equality.

In this episode, we talk about Rob's extraordinary journey that led to creating The Phluid Project, a space that today is a little about selling shirts and a lot about educating, adding value, and advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community. We explore Rob's vision, ideas for the future, and his view on the best way to be allies of underrepresented communities. We also talk about how interesting it would be to eliminate gender from language, especially in the workplace, where formalities can lead to misgendering gender-nonconforming folks.

Some Questions We Ask:

• Could you tell us more about you and about The Phluid Project, please? (6:34)
• Can you talk about how the initial vision of creating a physical space collided with COVID and what you had to do to pivot? (11:25)
• What is your bigger vision? What world do you see that's possible if we all get to work in human rights and social equality? (18:25)
• Your company is an excellent example of prioritizing the mission over the profit. And how do you feel it's best to operate in those spaces? (30:38)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Education is a massive part of being an advocate (10:43)
• About Rob's experience with Ayahuasca and the revelation that would give new meaning to his life (15:09)
• The Phluid Project is more about education than about selling products (29:12)
• About Rob's policy of picking The Phluid Project partners based on their social media and vision of the world (33:49)

Resources:

• The Phluid Project website
• The Phluid Project Instagram
• The Phluid Project Facebook
• G.E.T Phluid website
• G.E.T Phluid LinkedIn

Connect with Rob:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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

For members of the LGBTQ+ community, finding a safe space where they can be themselves is as fundamental as it is hard to find. The possibility of being comfortable in their surroundings and expressing their thoughts and feelings without fear of being ridiculed or humiliated is often unavailable to underrepresented minorities. This is why the work of our guests, Monica and Ash, is so important! By creating a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community on TikTok, they are literally saving lives.

Monica, a former Sex Ed teacher, and her eldest Ash, a high-schooler who came out as a non-binary lesbian, have a TikTok profile, The Normalizers (@Monicatheteacher), with over 125 thousand followers and 6 million likes on their posts. They talk openly about sexual orientation, gender identity, pronouns, autism bullying, eating disorders, representation, and many other subjects. After starting over a couple of times and repurposing their content, they finally received the surprising yet well-deserved recognition that they now have. Their TikTok profile created a safe space for LGTBQ+ community members and their parents and allies, where everyone is free to express themselves and be who they are without any fear.

In this episode, our conversation revolves around Monica and Ash's evolution as influencers, and their relationship before and after Ash came out to their mom, Monica, first as a lesbian and later as non-binary. We discuss the importance of creating safe spaces at home and normalizing talking about sexual orientation and gender identity. Monica and Ash shared some of their experience with hateful comments online, how they deal with them, and what they believe social media companies could do about it.

Some Questions We Ask:

• How did you go from having these conversations within your family and yourself to posting videos and sharing that publicly? (16:08)
• What's it like to go upstream and create a safe place in this wild west of social media? How do you navigate that, and what do you think the companies can do better? (24:58)
• What is your take on where we're headed as a country? Is this country ever going to be a safe place for queer people? (34:23)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• About the difference Ash and Monica make with their safe online space (5:07)
• Coming out and producing a car crash at the same time (12:33)
• About Monica's need to teach Social-Emotional learning to the world (17:26)
• How feeling anonymous helped Ash and Monica's community feel safer (42:38)

Resources:

• Normalizers TikTok profile
• Normalizers podcast
• Normalizers Instagram
• Normalizers YouTube channel

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.

For those of us advocating for access to necessary medical care for trans youth, recent legislation seeking to criminalize or prevent this gender-affirming care feels like a huge step back. Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy is working to gain that ground back again, and to promote greater understanding of and support for it.

Visiting us today is Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, who we lovingly call Dr. Jo. She’s the Medical Director of The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Los Angeles Children's Hospital. She is also an Attending Physician, Investigator of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine and Behavioral Health, and Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics Keck School of Medicine of USC. Dr. Olsen-Kennedy is considered one of the leading experts in gender-affirming care.

With a patient load of over 700 transgender children, teens, and young adults and 16 years of experience in the field of gender-affirming medical care for trans youth, Dr. Olsen-Kennedy has answers to our most pressing questions related to gender dysphoria, treatment options, and much more.

In this episode, we talk about Dr. Jo's work at The Center and how she helps trans kids' parents, caretakers, and trans adults. We also discuss the barriers that prevent trans people from accessing quality medical care services and the effects of the criminalization of gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents on the LGBTQ+ community, their parents, and the professionals involved.

Dr. Jo kindly shares her position on the use of GnRH Analogs, and she invites us to reflect on why we have different responses when it is used on trans youth. We talk about the central role of having key conversations as the foundation of any medical care, and much more.

Some Questions We Ask:

• What would you say to young people who cannot access the level of care that you provide? What would you say are the most significant barriers? (7:39)
• As someone who's doing this work and watching it become illegal in other states throughout the country, do you feel like you're on a battlefield? (18:56)
• What are the big questions people have about hormones, and how do you answer them? (44:44)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Dr. Jo talks about the only field of medicine designed to make all the cisgender people around the patient comfortable (14:01)
• Gender is a color wheel; male and female are merely reference points (15:52)
• The difference between doing the work and defending the work. People deserve authenticity (21:16)
• The importance of bilateral information (37:59)
• One of Dr. Jo's biggest lessons learned in her profession (1:03:27)

Resources:

• Los Angeles Children's Hospital website

Connect with Johanna:

• Dr. Jo's profile - Los Angeles Children's Hospital website
• Email: [email protected]

Connect with Jackie and Bridget:

• Instagram
• Website
• How to Be a True Ally Course Registration

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

Going through his transition in a rural area of Northern California was tough and lonely for Aydin. Although he assumes there were other trans people in the area, he never got in touch with them. On the other hand, he would drive three and a half hours each way to see a gender specialist on weekends. These difficulties created a strong desire in him to increase accessibility to mental health services for transgender people, which he considers crucial. This marked the beginning of a journey of advocating for the transgender community and supporting them as a counselor, trainer, and educator.

Aydin Olson-Kennedy is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the former Executive Director of the Los Angeles Gender Center. In his practice, Aydin has been serving teenagers and adult transgender and nonbinary individuals and their families for over ten years. He is considered a national expert, and he has trained thousands of professionals and families in the US and is a dedicated volunteer professional for the Los Angeles based support group Transforming Family, which Bridget is a parent volunteer for.

In this episode, we had an enlightening conversation where Aydin shared his transition journey, and the difficulties he faced before and after coming out as a transgender man. We discussed important recommendations for how parents can support and communicate effectively with their transgender and nonbinary children. We explored misgendering people: why it happens and tips for parents, caregivers, and others to prevent it. Aydin also offered some poignant insights on the damage that can be caused by parents expressing their own distress with their kids, and much more.

Some Questions We Ask:

• Often, you are doing a lot of work to convince cis people to accept trans people. What is that like for you on a personal level emotionally? (7:47)
• What are some of the top things you can say to parents whose kids just came out as transgender? (17:50)
• How would you say that the desire to have control over your kid plays into accepting their transition? (22:47)
• How do you help people avoid misgendering? Because it can be so triggering and painful to be misgendered. (43:03)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• A bit of Aydin's journey into becoming a therapist for the LGBTQ community and an expert in the field (5:35)
• Three things Aydin pays careful attention to in order to be sure he is not harming the parents or the transgender and nonbinary young people he serves (13:12)
• Coming out is an invitation to people into a private space (19:09)
• One of the main reasons why misgendering occurs (42:57)
• The fear of some parents and caregivers about conversations about gender turning into the only topic of discussion (50:44)

Connect with Aydin:

• LinkedIn
• Aydin’s bio on the Los Angeles Gender Center website & link to email him

Connect with Jackie and Bridget:

• Instagram
• Website
• How to Be a True Ally Course Registration

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

In this episode, we are thrilled to be joined by author Lilah Sturges. She is happily married to her wife and has two lovely grown daughters. Lilah wrote the first two graphic novels in the award-winning and critically acclaimed Lumberjanes world and several other titles for Vertigo (DC Comics) and Marvel.

Her latest work, The Science of Ghosts, which will be published on June 18th by Legendary Comics, tells the story of a transgender forensic parapsychologist who studies ghost behavior to solve crimes and showcases a creative new spin on stories with trans characters. We were lucky enough to be given an advanced reader copy and we so enjoyed discussing how much we loved the book and what parts of it fascinated us most.

Throughout our conversation, Lilah tells us about how she got into graphic novels, her evolution as a writer, and her unique approach to transgender identities in her latest work. She also shares her coming out story, the challenges she and her family went through, and the story behind #transpizza.

In addition, Lilah shares her thoughts on grief in the trans community, her process of creating the main character’s traits in The Science of Ghosts, transphobia in media, and much more.

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

• Becoming a graphic novel writer (5:10)
• Lilah talks about how much of her personal experiences are reflected in "The Science of Ghosts" (10:20)
• Lilah shares her coming out story (14:00)
• Transgender people and grief (18:50)
• Lilah talks about #transpizza (25:00)
• Lilah, Jackie, and Bridget discuss transphobia (31:20)

Connect with Lilah Sturges:

• Website
• Instagram
• Get "The Science of Ghosts" on Bookshop.org
• Lilah's books
• Subscribe to Lilah's newsletter

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.