Trans people wanted for new year's story

trans people wanted for new year's story - journo received my name via a trusted source

Hello Sally,
Thanks for your time on the phone this morning. I'm working on our New Year's Day coverage and I'm looking for someone who is planning to make a major change in their lives in 2014. I thought it would be great to interview someone from the transgender community who is in that position. That person/persons would ideally be doing something like living openly in their affirmed gender for the first time next year or doing that to a much greater extent than 2013. Or they could be starting the ... process in 2014. I'm open to any suggestions but it would need to be someone who will be going through some profound change in 2014. The plan is to publish the story in the newspaper and online and we'd also need to take photographs.
Ideally I'd like to interview someone today or tomorrow. I can be contacted on b.preiss@theage.com.au or 8667 2126.
Many thanks,

Benjamin Preiss
Journalist

Maria Kastoras

(triggers: grief, loss)

Just over 24 hours ago, I lost a friend of 10 years. Maria Kastoras, with whom I had worked for 10 years at Thalassaemia Australia (previously Thalassaemia Society of Victoria) passed away just after 11 pm (AEST) on December 25^th.

Maria had always been supportive of me through the tougher times in my life (and in times when it was generally much harder for any openly trans person to get work) and I will always have gratitude for that support. In a way she was a pioneering “cis ally” but it was more; she was just an outright good person.

As time went on and I became more settled in myself I felt our connection became more of a 2 way street. We supported each other through life’s issues and tougher times. We shared ideas about advocacy and community building together. We swapped Greek and Hebrew swear words and we laughed with another about the foibles and goings on of numerous communities - say no more. J

I am still feeling much grief and in the phases of shock, disbelief and denial. Maria would have been 45 next month and it doesn’t seem right she has gone. We had planned to do a quieter birthday lunch in January rather than a noisy Xmas lunch; now, not to be.

I knew Maria via Thalassaemia Australia and knew of her huge work for the world-wide Thal community; of course there were many other parts of her life. Her family, friends, soccer club and Greek community were just some of those facets and there will be many people who she touched through her warmth and who will also be feeling the sense of loss. My thoughts are especially with her son Theo and our colleague Sarah Burton.

So thank you Maria K. I don’t know the right words in Greek; thank you for being you and I’ll miss you will have to do for now.

Tropfest goes Troppo

(From me as an individual; not on behalf of any organisation I represent).

There are many perspectives to the debate about Tropfest winner (sic) "Bamboozled" ; I add mine as a person who among many other facets is transgender and an occasional stand-up/spoken word performer.

I run by the guideline when doing stand-up of “unless a person identifies as part of that group, they don’t make jokes about it.” As someone who is a person (emphasis) with many facets including transgender and performer, I can - and do - take the Michelle out of myself on those facets. I also used to sit and watch people who didn’t identify that way and who thought they had incredibly funny material about trans that I knew wasn’t funny at all. The good thing was - virtually no one else laughed at their material either.

As rightly noted by Will, “There’s Something About Miriam,” among many issues, was unacceptable  in that played on the emotive and false allegation that trans people are “deceivers” re intimacy. I ask people to note that recently, 20^th November marked Transgender Day of Remembrance and 239 known transphobic murders around the world in the last 12 months. A visit to the official website notes many such brutal murders over the years are because the other person is enraged by the idea of alleged “deception” by the trans person (think Boys Don’t Cry). General violence rates in Australia against trans people can be up to 25% - 12 times that of the overall population.

In this light, I really question the artistic and so-called “comedic” merit of Bamboozled and its worthiness to win an award. I would think it is surely possible to critique reality TV in a way that involves humour without stereotyping groups or possibly putting groups at any greater risk than they already face.

If we are asking organisations such as the AFL to take social responsibility in areas such as transgender, I think we are entitled to ask Tropfest and filmmakers to do the same. Certainly, freedom of opinion and artistic expression are important in society. I think human life and human dignity matter even more – maybe most of all.

Trans Xmas Party in Melbourne Thursday 12 December 9 PM