Celebrating International Trans Visibility Day

Saturday 31 March was a day dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide. At Unitec we support staff and students going through gender transitioning and we have a Gender Affirmation Policy. Our Rainbow and Ally Network has several trans members, and parents of trans children.  If you wanted to have a confidential chat with any of these people for support,  please email ally@unitec.ac.nz. If you’d like to be an Ally for Transgender people this would be a great resource to read.

Two of our own Trans staff, Sofia Chambers and Nathalie Dussart have kindly shared their experience and thoughts:

Natalie on what this day means to her: 

The transgender day of visibility (TDOV) always raises a lot of emotions for me. Like a lot of transgender people born in the mid-80s, I wasn’t even aware of a lot of things that we might take for granted these days: The difference between sex and gender, the concept of being transgender, the vocabulary around it. I wouldn’t come across the concept until my late teens, and then still very little until my mid twenties. To highlight the lack of exposure, I considered my gender to be fluid, and not cis (i.e. matching my sex assigned at birth) in 2003, the first TDOV was created in 2009, I realised I was trans* in 2019, transitioned in 2021, and I didn’t even come across TDOV until that year. There are so many cognitive and emotional challenges that come with being trans*, particularly because there is still relatively little exposure to it in our day to day lives, especially if we live in small communities. The more gender diversity is discussed, and celebrated, the easier life will be for everyone – trans* and cisgender alike. Conversations will be simpler, day to day life will be less stressful, and we can all go about living, working, and learning without the hurdle of having our identity, and safety, questioned at regular intervals.

Sofia speaking about coming out and the value of great support during the transition:

I transitioned as a MtF (male to female) transgendered person while working full time at Unitec in 2014 and this is an experience I am very happy to share. Few years ago, while I was a graduate student at the University of Auckland, I considered coming out and transitioning but ended up backing off. The whole system there was a very large bureaucracy and I was not connected to a supportive network that felt real. At Unitec, it was a different story. It started with a chat with my boss at the time and quickly after, Unitec’s very active ALLY network wrapped the needed support around me. Within a few days of telling my Head of School Natalie, I had a visit from our equity and diversity manager Matthew Farry, a great human who helped me with a lot of the hurdles like getting name changes sorted out with HR and the rest of the process for getting ready for my D-day. I thought it would be hard telling colleagues to prepare them, but the opposite was true of our work team who embraced the announcement and my changes whole-heartedly. The same proved true of my students. My wonderful colleagues Mark Farnworth and Angela Dale gifted me a Westfield voucher with the mission to get out to St Lukes and conquer the mall, what a lovely gesture. I am as committed today as I was then to the Ally and Rainbow network at Unitec which is very active in helping staff and students know themselves and be who they are.

Natalie’s message to any of us wanting to know more: 

For any genderqueer or questioning akonga or kaimahi at Unitec, haere mai! You do not walk alone, and there is a large, active, and supportive community around you. The Rainbow and Ally network has been active for many years, and even outside of it, I have found many staff and students at Unitec to be welcoming and accepting. Like Sophia, my social transition took place while working here, and I could not have wished for a smoother experience. Colleagues, managers, HR services, all provided fantastic wrap around support. If you have any questions, or worries about your own gender, or that of a loved one, or person in your life: please reach out! Every TDOV, let us all walk a little less in the shadows, that the next generations may have a freer life. I use trans* as an umbrella term for all genderqueer identities: https://genderminorities.com/glossary-transgender/

Sofia on being a trans person and crucial role parents play:

 As a child and teenager growing up in an information deficient environment, I had no idea what was behind my curiosity and drive to explore feminine things including cross dressing and similar behaviours associated with transgendered people. I had no-one to reach out to, least of all parents whom I trusted with these questions. I feel very glad that young people today have so much more information and available support for these questions and the plain fact that our society has changed and moved on from where it was when I grew up before homosexual law reform. Young people need to be able to talk to their parents about this sort of stuff, any LGBTQ+ associated questions are likely for today’s parents and being able to support your young people is important. There are very good resources for parents and young people alike to help understand these psychological questions. I am conscious that sometimes I am more likely to understand my ākonga than their parents do, because many parents today still have the same background that I grew up in. I suggest do reach out, give mum and dad a chance to learn about who you are, they are your best support to really be who you are. I am incredibly proud of the modern parents in my peer group who have embraced their children’s diversity and supported them as I would hope to be supported. These new young LGBTQ+ still need to know good third party support exists to supplement family support (or lack of) at places such as Rainbow Youth and your peer network is also going to be a lot better equipped to support you than when I grew up. For young LGBTQ+ and especially trans people reading this, I hope that you do not have to go through your adult life with a mask or “cross dressed” as the person you think your whānau and friends want you to be. I am quite sure they will prefer to know who you really are.