LGBTQ Families Speak Out
  • Home
  • About
    • About the Project
    • About the Team
  • Videos
    • Toronto Area >
      • Alec
      • Bev
      • Catherine & Nazbah
      • Dale
      • Garrett
      • Ian, Ben, & Alexis
      • Jae & Daya
      • Jess & Evan
      • Karleen
      • Kevin & Mohan
      • Kiran
      • Lara
      • Mary
      • Nicole & Mita
      • Ruby & Wendy
      • Sarah
      • Skinner Family >
        • Skinner Parents
        • Stella & Jess
        • Stella
        • Skinner Kids
      • Victoria
    • London Area >
      • Zena & Pa
    • Ottawa Area >
      • Dawn
      • Michael & Ernst
    • Sudbury Area >
      • Brenda & Nim
      • Allie & Melissa
      • Anna
      • Dan & Chantale
      • Robin
      • Syn
      • Tobie & Andréa
      • Vincent
    • Themes >
      • Activism
      • Advice for Teachers
      • Allyship
      • Bullying
      • Community: people, resources and programs
      • Curriculum
      • Early Years & Elementary School
      • Family Structures
      • Gender Identity & Expression
      • High School
      • Indigeneity
      • Intersectionality
      • Law, Policy, & Human Rights
      • Politics of "Out"ness
      • Pride
      • Race
      • Religion
      • School Culture
      • Teacher Education
  • Out At School
    • Out at School, An Introduction
    • Out at School, Toronto Pride, 2019
    • Out At School Audio Play, 2021
  • Publications

Skinner Family: A Child's Transition

3/6/2016

0 Comments

 
Keywords:
education, identity, out, school culture, support, transitioning, training, trans, vocabulary, volunteering
Transcript

​Tara: Do you think you’re part of the reason why the school culture is able to do work so well for your family?
 
Jessica: Not initially.
 
Alex: I would say yes.
 
Jessica: But absolutely.
 
Alex: Because they work with us so much now. They want to know our opinion.
 
Jessica: I have their email, like I know it well, and we’re in constant contact, if anything, any little tiny thing happens..
 
Jonathon: Especially in the transition between “I want to wear a dress” and “My name is Stella,” there was a lot of emailing back and forth. And a lot of um, a lot of that happened just as Christmas break was happening.
 
Tara: Right.
 
Jonathon: And we were really trying to be like “Okay well, if you’re going to start doing these things, let’s just do it after Christmas break.”
 
Jessica: That was our other rule. It didn’t happen.
 
Jonathon: We tried.
 
Jessica: I’m Stella! Anyone who came up to her she was like “I’m Stella now! I’m transgender, I’m the T in LGBTQ!”
 
Stella (off-screen): Don’t mention that!
 
Jessica: What?! It’s awesome when you do that! It’s my favourite! But it’s yeah, it’s extremely important that when it first happened, Stella was like “Can I just have an assembly and tell everyone?” because she just, that she did not want to ask, or like answer any more questions.
 
Alex: That bugged her a lot.
 
Jessica: Questions, questions, questions.
 
Alex: People asking the same thing every day.
 
Jonathon: It would be a lot of walking down the hall and people would be like “Wolfgang!” And she would be like “My name is Stella.”
 
Jessica: Every day was just getting more- So I took an active role because they make the money but they encourage me to uh, to volunteer like in her class, in Darwin’s class, and then I’m in all different kinds of classes for the other ones as lunchroom supervisor. And they’re starting to know who I am. So I’m getting the questions. Which is awesome. Because then they don’t ask her. And they like me, and so I can smush that into a ball of understanding, and then she doesn’t have any of that. So.
 
Alex: And you have the vocabulary, to tell them that she doesn’t necessarily have. Because you’ve had this training with you know, the equity people and stuff, you know.
 
Jessica: Like we’ve gone through it too, and you know, talking to all these other trans moms if they’re new to it and stuff. So you get used to it. So I’m doing it in a way where it’s not too outwardly whatever, I don’t want to get in trouble with any parents, but it’s like invaluable that they’re learning these things young. And they’re so…
 
Jonathon: There were.
 
Jessica: Yes, so it’s extremely important.
 
Alex: It’s making a difference to not only Stella, but to other people who are coming out in that school now too.
 
Jessica: And they love me there. And I’m always there volunteering. I always say yes for them. So it looks good on me. So when they discover different things about me, it doesn’t matter as much because they know I’m a good person, so.
 
Tara: Right, right.
 
Jonathon: You’ve been there to unthrow a lot of the little knots that come along. Like little girls looking at a boy in pink or whatever and being like “what’s up with that?” And you just being able to be on hand to explain.
 
Jessica: Yeah I’m right in there talking to them like, their best friends, because they are little sweet people who just want to know. So normally, if you just a little empathy, and “Wouldn’t it be terrible for you if someone just stuck you in a dress?” And they were like “Oh that would be weird, if I was in a dress.”
 
Alex: And it was so like, it was a moment of change for those kids too. because they really like Wolfgang, and you know, they know that he really likes uh, Frozen and stuff. But it’s Wolfgang. But now it’s Stella! And “Okay, you can come over and we can watch that movie now together.”
 
Jessica: Yeah she gets more like, when she was, when no one could define her, she just wasn’t invited anywhere. And when she became a girl, she started getting like one or two girly play dates. And you know, everyone from her class except for a couple who lost the invitations, came to her party this year. And it’s, it’s a whole new ball game.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Transcripts

    Transcripts are available for each video clip.  Click on "read more" under each video for access.

    Tags

    All
    Acceptance
    Activism
    Advice
    Advocacy
    Advocacy: Self
    Advocacy: Trans
    Allies
    Arts
    Assumptions
    Books
    Bullying
    Catholic School
    Celebration
    Coming Out
    Community
    Community Resources
    Consent
    Conversion Therapy
    Disability
    Discrimination
    Diversity
    Education
    Equity
    Family: Chosen
    Family Dynamics
    Family Life
    Family Planning
    Family Structure
    Family Structure: Multi Parent
    Family Structure: Poly
    French
    Friends
    Gender Identity & Expression
    Gender Neutral Bathrooms
    Gender Transition
    GSA
    Healthcare
    Heteronormativity
    Homophobia
    Human Rights
    Identity
    Identity: Names & Pronouns
    Identity: Non Binary
    Identity: Trans
    Inclusive Language
    Inclusivity
    Indigenous Culture & Teachings
    Intersectionality
    Legal Issues
    Love
    Marginalized Communities
    Mental Health
    Mother's & Father's Day
    Parenting
    Participant: Kiran
    Participants: Alec
    Participants: Allie & Melissa
    Participants: Anna
    Participants: Bev
    Participants: Brenda & Nim
    Participants: Catherine & Nazbah
    Participants: Dale
    Participants: Dan & Chantale
    Participants: Dawn
    Participants: Garrett
    Participants: Ian Ben Alexis
    Participants: Jae & Daya
    Participants: Jess & Evan
    Participants: Karleen
    Participants: Kevin & Mohan
    Participants: Lara
    Participants: Mary
    Participants: Michael & Ernst
    Participants: Nicole & Mita
    Participants: Robin
    Participants: Ruby & Wendy
    Participants: Sarah
    Participants: Skinner Family
    Participants: Skinner Kids
    Participants: Skinner Parents
    Participants: Stella
    Participants: Stella & Jess
    Participants: Syn
    Participants: Tobie & Andrea
    Participants: Victoria
    Participants: Vincent
    Participants: Zena & Pa
    Policy
    Positive Space
    Poverty
    Power & Privilege
    Pride
    Professional Development
    Race & Racism
    Religion
    Representation
    Resistance
    Resources
    Role Model
    Rural
    Safety
    School Administration
    School: Alternative
    School Culture
    School: Curriculum
    School: Grades 7:12
    School: PreK Grade 6
    School: Sex Ed
    Support
    Teachers & Teaching
    Transphobia
    Visibility

Proudly powered by Weebly