Renée Richards: Beyond the Icon

 

In 1975, at the age of 41, Renée Richards underwent gender-affirming surgery and began living openly as a woman. Two years later, she would become one of the most consequential figures in the history of transgender participation in sport. Born in New York in 1934, Richards had already lived an extraordinary life before becoming a public symbol: she was a highly accomplished tennis player, captain of the Yale men's tennis team, and an ophthalmologist. In 1976, after she was outed as transgender by broadcaster Richard Carlson, she was barred from entering the U.S. Open women's competition because she refused to submit to the chromosome test demanded by the United States Tennis Association. She challenged the decision in court, and in August 1977 the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor. At the 1977 U.S. Open, the 43-year-old Richards finally entered the women's draw. She lost her opening singles match to Virginia Wade, but reached the doubles final, where she and her partner lost to Martina Navratilova and Betty Stöve. Richards subsequently became a coach, working with players including Navratilova, and her name became inseparable from one of the earliest and most important legal battles over transgender participation in professional sport.

 

Yet the woman at the center of this history is far more complicated than the historical shorthand of "transgender tennis pioneer" suggests. Now in her nineties, Richards remains a deeply contradictory figure. The person who once went to court to establish her right to compete as a woman now argues that trans women who experienced male puberty should not compete in women's sport. That tension is at the heart of Finding Renée Richards, because the book is not interested in turning Richards into a convenient icon. Instead, it tries to recover the complicated human being behind the headline, the lawsuit and the history-making moment. And it is this woman, with all her contradictions, achievements, struggles and complexities, that journalist and author Julie Kliegman set out to find. Kliegman has spent much of their career exploring the places where sport, identity and the human stories behind public controversies intersect. Their work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, The Ringer, Slate, The Verge, Vox and Texas Monthly. They have worked as a reporter, editor and fact-checker, served as Copy Chief at Sports Illustrated, and written extensively about transgender athletes, women's sports and mental health. And now that Julie Kliegman has published Finding Renée Richards, I am delighted to welcome them to The Heroines of My Life to talk about the woman they spent years trying to understand, the extraordinary journey of researching and writing her story, and what they discovered along the way.

Interview with Sofía Diéguez

 

Sofía Diéguez is an Argentine transgender actress, singer, performer, playwright and cultural worker. She was born on December 8, 1986, in Buenos Aires and grew up in Lanús. She began studying acting at the age of thirteen and later trained in theatre, musical theatre, ballet and singing, including studies at the Teatro Colón. Her acting training also included work with Alicia Zanca, Ana María Campoy, Pepe Cibrián and Julieta Vallina. At sixteen, she was cast in Pepe Cibrián's El fantasma de Canterville, appearing in the production during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. She subsequently continued her theatrical training and toured Latin America with children's theatre productions. At the age of twenty-five, Sofía began her gender transition and temporarily stepped away from acting and performance. She later returned to the profession with a role in Un gallo para Esculapio.

 

Her subsequent television work included El Marginal, where she played La Luli, and Telefe's Pequeña Victoria, where she played Violeta. Her theatre career includes Crianzas, el musical, based on the work of Susy Shock, for which she received the 2021 ATINA Award for Female Performer. She later wrote and starred in Magenta, una sirena más allá del mar, a children's musical inspired by the figure of the mermaid and addressing identity and freedom. Her later theatrical work has included Estar System, in which she also participated in the creative and dramaturgical process, and Teoría de la Sirena, a musical biodrama and autobiographical work combining theatre, music and elements of her own life. In 2023, she made her feature-film debut in Natural Arpajou's Unicornio. In 2025, she appeared in El suelo que sostiene a Hande, a Buenos Aires theatre production inspired by the life of Turkish transgender activist Hande Kader. Alongside her acting career, Sofía is a singer and songwriter who performs under the artistic identity La Sirena. In 2022, she released her first single, La Sirena, followed by an EP featuring La Sirena, Medusa, Sola and La Poderosa. She writes her own lyrics and melodies and has also participated in musical performances and live cultural productions. Outside the stage and screen, Sofía has worked as a tutor at the Mocha Celis educational project. Her career encompasses theatre, television, cinema, musical performance, songwriting, dramaturgy and autobiographical work, alongside public work on transgender visibility, representation and trans childhoods.

Interview with Stevie Bennett

Stevie Bennett is a British transgender woman, writer, software architect, former quantitative trader, Ironman finisher and father of three. After spending decades suppressing her gender identity, she transitioned in middle age and has since documented her experiences through her writing and social media. Stevie built a long career in software development and architecture and also worked in quantitative trading. Before transitioning, she was married and became the parent of three children. She met her future wife in Dublin when she was thirty-six, and the family later lived in London and rural Ireland. Endurance sport became another important part of her life. After taking up cycling and triathlon, Stevie completed a full Ironman in 2016. Medical investigations into her hormone levels later became an unexpected turning point in her life. After discovering unusually low testosterone and experiencing subsequent hormonal and physical changes, including feminisation, she began confronting the transgender identity she had spent much of her life trying to suppress.

 

Her transition brought both profound personal fulfilment and significant upheaval. Her marriage ended, and she has written openly about the joy of finally living as herself, alongside the grief and loss connected with the changes to her family life. Stevie has since undergone gender-affirming surgery and continued to document her experiences through her publication, Fast Track Femme, where she writes about transition, family, divorce, surgery, ageing, dating, technology and artificial intelligence. Alongside her writing, she continues to work in technology and has explored the use of AI agents in software and creative projects. Today, at fifty-seven, Stevie is continuing to build a new life while remaining a parent, technology professional, endurance athlete and writer. Her story is an unusual combination of a decades-long hidden transgender identity, family life, elite endurance sport, an unexpected hormonal journey and a rapid public transition later in life.

Interview with Luly Arias

Luly Arias is an actress, activist, educator and nurse from San José, Catamarca, Argentina. She began her gender transition during adolescence and, at 16, was expelled from her family home. She later studied Pedagogy and Social Education, graduating in 2009 before moving to Buenos Aires, where she continued her education in nursing. Her professional and artistic trajectory developed alongside her activism. She became involved in Cooperativa Arte Trans, a pioneering theatre collective created to provide transgender and travesti people with opportunities in the arts, and appeared in productions including Made in Lanús. She was also one of the protagonists of Guillermo Bergandi's documentary Reina de Corazones and later joined the cast of Telefe's prime-time series Pequeña Victoria in 2019. Education has remained central to Arias's work. She taught at the Bachillerato Popular Travesti Trans Mocha Celis, where she worked with trans and travesti students, and later worked within the diversity area of the Buenos Aires Province Ministry of Health, including training healthcare professionals in inclusive care.
 

Luly has also participated in projects such as Unides por la Música, bringing together trans, travesti and non-binary artists from Argentina and Uruguay, and has written extensively about trans representation, employment, housing, healthcare, cultural inclusion and historical memory. Her work combines artistic practice with activism, with particular attention to the opportunities available to transgender people outside the stereotypes traditionally imposed on them. From a small town in Catamarca to theatre, television, public health and activism in Buenos Aires, Luly Arias's trajectory has crossed many of the institutions from which transgender people have historically been excluded, while she has continued working to make those spaces more accessible to others. 

Remembering Liz Eden

 

Long before it was safe, or even really possible, to live openly as a trans woman in America, Liz Eden did it anyway, loudly, unapologetically, and on her own terms. Born Ernest Aron in Brooklyn in 1946, she lost her mother at fourteen, left home at eighteen, and remade herself in Greenwich Village, taking a new name after Elizabeth Taylor and finding a chosen family among the drag balls and after-hours clubs of the city's queer underground, in the same orbit as Candy Darling and Holly Woodlawn. Fate handed her a strange kind of fame: her partner John Wojtowicz's botched 1972 bank robbery, carried out in part to fund her surgery, became the basis for Dog Day Afternoon (1975), one of the most celebrated films of the decade. Yet Liz herself was reduced to a deadnamed, misunderstood footnote in it. She refused to stay a footnote. She used the notoriety to pay for her own transition, told her story in her own words in a 1977 magazine piece, and kept living boldly and openly through the rest of her life, eventually settling in Rochester. She died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1987, at just 41, but not before insisting, in her own writing, that hers was a story worth telling. This interview, and Anni Arbour's research behind it, are an answer to that wish.

 

Anni Arbour writes Trans Ascending , a Substack publication devoted to telling transgender history and contemporary trans lives with the depth and accuracy they're too rarely given elsewhere. Her subjects have ranged from Lynn Conway, the pioneering computer engineer who transitioned decades before it was safe to do so publicly, to working artists, activists, and everyday trans women whose stories don't usually make it into print at all. The Herstory of Liz Eden , published across eight parts in late 2025, is Anni's most ambitious project to date. It is a full-length reconstruction of a woman who has spent fifty years as a footnote in someone else's story, first as a side character in a magazine article, then in a Hollywood film, and now, finally, as the subject of her own. Built from archival research, original manuscripts, and interviews others overlooked, the series recovers Liz Eden's own voice from underneath five decades of secondhand telling. I am so happy and grateful that Anni agreed to sit down and chat with me about this work.

Interview with Cassandra Cass

 

Cassandra Cass is the kind of woman who seems to have stepped out of a dream and decided to make that dream real. An actress, showgirl, burlesque performer, glamour model and television personality, she has spent decades creating herself as both a woman and an artist, with a career that has taken her from the drag bars of the American Midwest to the stages of San Francisco and, eventually, to Hollywood. Audiences came to know her through productions including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2004), Trantasia (2006), Wild Things (2010), What's the T? (2012), Strut (2016) and Hooked on the Look (2017). But behind the larger-than-life blonde bombshell is a story that began with a little girl in Iowa who simply knew there was another version of herself waiting to emerge.

 

Cassandra was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa, in a family with four boys. From childhood, she gravitated toward traditionally feminine toys and activities, including My Little Pony and Cabbage Patch dolls. Her mother encouraged her to explore those interests, while her father initially struggled to understand and accept her femininity. Her mother would eventually become an important figure in Cassandra's life, and her death from cancer would leave another lasting mark on her story. As a teenager, Cassandra discovered the world of drag and began sneaking into gay bars to perform. Drag gave her something precious, a place where femininity was not something to hide but something she could explore, celebrate and transform into art. At approximately 18, she left Iowa for Florida and began attempting to live as a woman. The reality was far less glamorous than the dream. She struggled to find employment while presenting as a woman and was even confronted with offers of sex work, which she refused.

Interview with Petra Hristova

Petra Hristova is a Bulgarian transgender woman, writer and activist whose personal struggle for legal recognition became one of the most significant transgender rights cases in Bulgaria. Born in 1998, she grew up in northern Bulgaria, moving between Veliko Tarnovo, Lyaskovets, Kozarevets and Gorna Oryahovitsa. Her childhood was marked by isolation and bullying, including physical violence, and she has spoken publicly about growing up without the freedom and security that many children take for granted. At the age of twelve, Petra came across an interview with a Bulgarian transgender woman living abroad. It was a turning point. At a time when little information about transgender identities was available in Bulgarian, she began researching the subject herself, often relying on English-language sources to understand feelings she had struggled to name. Education became an important part of Petra's life. She earned a Bachelor's degree in Applied Linguistics, studying English and Korean, followed by a Master's degree in English Philology. She also obtained a professional qualification in organisational psychology. Later, she enrolled in studies in midwifery, inspired by the idea of helping bring new life into the world. Petra began her medical transition after her first year at university and started hormone therapy in September 2015. Finding appropriate medical care proved difficult, as she encountered specialists who lacked experience with, or were unwilling to treat, transgender patients. In January 2022, she underwent gender-affirming surgery at a private clinic in Greece. 

Interview with Barbara Herr

Barbara Herr is a transgender woman, actress, cabaret artist, showgirl and activist whose remarkable life spans more than five decades of LGBTQ+ performance history. Born Robert Hernández in the Bronx, New York, in 1955 to Puerto Rican and Cuban immigrant parents, she grew up between New York and Puerto Rico, an experience that would shape both her identity and her extraordinary artistic career. Barbara moved to Puerto Rico as a teenager and began performing in 1973 under the name Bobby Herr. During the 1970s and 1980s, she became part of the island's vibrant world of drag, cabaret and nightclub entertainment, performing in venues such as Bachelor in Santurce and Stars in Condado. She also worked in theatre and television and toured with a revue connected with the legendary Héctor Del San Juand and Ed Vachan. Later, she toured the Caribbean as a solo artist, headlining her own show during hotel residencies in the Dominican Republic. Two important figures helped shape her artistic life. Antonio Pantojas, one of Puerto Rico's most celebrated entertainers, became her mentor, teacher and close friend, while the legendary Lady Catiria became an important artistic influence. Through them and many other performers of her generation, Barbara became part of a rich Puerto Rican and Nuyorican tradition of transgender and drag performance that has only recently begun to receive the historical recognition it deserves.

Interview with Martina Sobková

When I first spoke with Martina Sobková, I talked to a woman who was redefining what beauty, ambition, and femininity could look like. At 36, she had already made history as the first transgender woman from the Czech Republic to compete at Miss Trans Star International in São Paulo, where she earned the title of Miss Evolution. But even then, it was clear that Martina’s journey was only beginning. Now, she has stepped onto another, even bigger stage: Miss International Queen 2025, one of the most prestigious and internationally recognized pageants for transgender women. Getting there required far more than a beautiful gown, a polished catwalk, and a sash. Martina had to prepare a national costume and talent, balance intense preparation with her career in finance, and somehow keep going even when she was physically exhausted. What makes this second chapter particularly interesting, however, is that Martina does not look back on Miss International Queen simply as a glamorous achievement. Beneath the glitter, she discovered something much more personal. She learned how easily the pursuit of perfection can make us lose sight of ourselves, and how important it is to remember that our lives cannot be reduced to one competition, one appearance, or one moment on stage.

Interview with Catherine Burton

 

Catherine “Cat” Burton has spent most of her life navigating worlds in which she was never expected to belong. Born into an aviation family, she began flying professionally in 1972, at a time when there were no female professional pilots in the United Kingdom. What followed was an extraordinary career spanning some 45 years, during which she flew everything from Vickers Viscounts to Boeing 747s and eventually became a long-haul captain with British Airways. Yet while aviation gave Cat a life she loved, it also provided a remarkably effective place to hide a part of herself that she had not yet fully understood.

 

Cat eventually came out as transgender in her late fifties and returned to the flight deck as herself, supported by British Airways and, as she discovered, by many of the colleagues she had feared might reject her. Her story is not simply about transition or aviation. It is about identity, courage, humour and the extraordinary freedom that comes from finally stopping the exhausting work of pretending to be someone else. It is also a story about what happens when a workplace chooses not merely to tolerate difference, but to recognise the value of the person standing in front of them. Cat went on to become a diversity champion, an advocate for women and minorities in aviation and, after retiring from British Airways, a flying instructor who clearly has no intention whatsoever of slowing down. As she puts it rather succinctly, there will be “plenty of time for that when I’m dead.”

Interview with Kay Kirkman

Kay Kirkman’s journey towards becoming oneself is inseparable from an entire lifetime. For more than six decades, Kay lived within a life shaped by expectations and responsibilities. She built a career in mental health nursing, became a husband, father and grandfather, and spent forty years married to Julia, the woman she loved. Yet alongside that life was another truth, one Kay had carried since childhood and had never quite been able to silence. It was only after Julia’s death that the walls Kay had built around that hidden part of herself began to come down. Grief, strangely enough, became a doorway. What followed was not a simple story of finally “coming out,” but a deeply human process of questioning, remembering, grieving, accepting and, ultimately, learning how to live as the woman who had always been there.

 

Kay has now captured that journey in her memoir, Becoming Kay: A Story of Identity, Loss, Courage and Self-Discovery, published in August 2026. It is a book about much more than transition. It is about marriage and parenthood, ageing and identity, mental health, prejudice and acceptance. It is also about the people who remain important to us even when life changes beyond recognition. What I particularly love about Kay's story is that it challenges one of the most damaging assumptions surrounding transition, the idea that there is an age by which we must have figured ourselves out. Kay reminds us that sometimes the road to ourselves is extraordinarily long, and that arriving late does not make the destination any less beautiful. There is also something wonderfully warm about the way Kay approaches her story. Alongside the difficult moments, there is humour, honesty and an appreciation for the absurdities of life. She doesn't present herself as someone who suddenly became a completely different person. She presents herself as someone who finally stopped hiding a part of the person she had always been. 

Interview with Jynx de Lygh

Jynx Geneviève de Lygh is a mother of five, a veteran of four combat tours, a helicopter mechanic and cybersecurity specialist, a transgender activist, and now a recording artist, Jynx has lived several lives before arriving at the woman she always knew was somewhere inside her. But perhaps the most remarkable part of her story is not how many battles she has fought, but how she has continued to find new ways to turn those battles into something meaningful. Music was there long before transition. As a young person growing up near Ithaca, New York, Jynx found something resembling peace with a guitar or a microphone in her hands. While the rest of the world seemed to be telling her who she was supposed to be, music gave her somewhere to breathe. Then came 23 years in the military, four combat tours, marriages, motherhood, and decades of trying to fit into a life that never quite felt like her own. At forty, Jynx finally began her transition. And, in what seems almost like a metaphor for her entire life, she refused to do things quietly.

Interview with Kate Hutchinson

Some people wait their whole lives for a defining moment, and some people, like Kate Hutchinson, seem to walk straight into it carrying a 38-foot trans flag and a whole community’s courage on their shoulders. When the Pride Cymru parade in Cardiff was brought to a halt by a handful of anti-trans protesters, Kate did not shout at them, confront them, or give them what they wanted. Instead, she did something far more powerful. She turned to the crowd, trusted her instincts, and invited an entire city to speak up for trans lives. And Cardiff answered. Kate’s story did not begin on that sun-drenched August day in 2022. It began decades earlier, in a school playground in the 1970s, with a child who knew who she was but learned very early that the world could be cruel to difference. It runs through coming out in the 1990s, being pushed back into the closet by violence and fear, and then, years later, stepping back into the light when support, representation, and self-belief finally aligned. 

 

Today, Kate is many things at once: a trans woman living joyfully and authentically, an educator, an activist, a trustee of Pride Cymru and Schools OUT UK, which brought LGBT+ History Month to the UK, a facilitator, a trainer, a rock musician, and, whether she asked for the title or not, a quiet heroine to a lot of people. This interview is not about soundbites or slogans. It is about lived experience, resilience, laughter in between the heavy moments, and what it really means to keep showing up for your community, even when it would be easier not to.

Interview with Zia Varajon

A Chicago-based author and creative, Zia Varajon has turned her own experiences of identity, transition, self-discovery and personal growth into something wonderfully generous: a book that feels less like a manual and more like sitting down with a big sister who has already made a few mistakes, learned a few lessons, laughed at herself along the way, and is now saying, “Come on, I've got you.” Her debut book, Love, Your Trans Big Sister: Advice on the Transfeminine Journey , published in May 2026, is deeply personal. Zia openly admits that putting such intimate details of her transition on paper can be unnerving. I completely understand that feeling. When we write about our lives, especially about transition, we are not simply sharing facts. We are opening doors to rooms that we may have spent years keeping private.

Interview with Robyn Gigl

 

Some lives unfold in neat chapters. Robyn Gigl’s reads more like a layered novel, one where law, courage, persistence, and imagination keep circling back to one another until they finally click into place. Born in 1952, Robyn is an American lawyer, writer, and LGBTQ+ activist whose story stretches across courtrooms and bookshelves, personal reinvention and public change. Based in New Jersey, she has worked since the late 1970s as a litigation specialist in commercial and employment law, with forays into criminal defense, building a formidable legal career brick by brick. In 2006, she became managing partner of the firm she had joined decades earlier, began her gender transition three years later, and eventually moved to Gluck Walrath in 2015, a firm that would later merge with Dilworth Paxson. Before her transition, Robyn was married to a woman and raised three children, a reminder that transformation rarely erases what came before, it simply reframes it. Her legal work has never existed in a vacuum. Robyn has been at the center of meaningful change for transgender people in New Jersey, most notably through Sonia Doe v. New Jersey Department of Corrections, a case brought with the ACLU of New Jersey that challenged the placement of a transgender woman in men’s prisons. The 2021 settlement reshaped state policy, anchoring prison placement in gender identity rather than assumption. Beyond the courtroom, Robyn served on the state’s Transgender Equality Task Force and the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Committee on Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement, and in 2020, the New Jersey Law Journal named her one of the “Top Women in Law.” These are not just titles, they are markers of impact.

Interview with Jennifer Diane Reitz

 

Jennifer Diane Reitz moves through culture like a quiet constant, sometimes visible, sometimes hidden, always shaping the space around her. Born in Oregon at the end of 1959 and raised in a childhood of perpetual motion, she learned early how to live between places, between definitions, between what is permitted and what is necessary. Science, fiction, music, and imagined worlds became not escapes but lifelines, ways of giving structure to a reality that rarely offered her safety or recognition. Her creative work, from the early days of independent game design to the formative chaos of the early internet, reflects this instinct to build worlds when none exist. With Happy Puppy, she helped define how games were discovered and shared online, and with Boppin’, she insisted that games could be strange, emotional, uncomfortable, and unapologetically adult. Her later webcomics, especially Unicorn Jelly, continue this refusal of simplicity, unfolding as living systems of myth, logic, and transformation that demand patience and curiosity rather than passive consumption.

 

Alongside her work in games and webcomics, including the long-running Unicorn Jelly and other formally inventive projects, Reitz has consistently explored themes of identity, perception, and transformation. As a trans woman who transitioned in the early 1980s under hostile social conditions, her personal history is marked by resilience, conflict, and moments of profound crisis, but also by enduring partnerships and chosen family. She later founded the website Transsexuality as an attempt to systematize and explain trans experience at a time when accessible information was scarce, a project that remains debated and contested. Taken together, Jennifer Diane Reitz’s career forms a singular narrative at the intersection of early internet culture, independent game development, and lived transgender history, making her a compelling and sometimes challenging voice to engage with in conversation.

Interview with Andrea Glose

Some conversations stay with you long after they end, not because they are loud or dramatic, but because they are honest. This interview with Andrea is one of those moments. Andrea Glose is a Bolivian trans woman living in Florida, a barista, a survivor, a daughter, a mother, a partner, and above all, a woman who has learned to keep choosing herself in a world that often makes that choice unbearably costly. What unfolds here is not a polished success story or a neatly wrapped narrative of triumph. It is a life spoken in full sentences, with humor, grief, warmth, and defiance woven together.

 

Andrea talks about sunshine and humidity, coffee orders and gothic style, but also about loss, loneliness, survival, and the quiet miracle of still being here. She speaks with tenderness about her family, with gratitude about chosen community, and with clarity about the political violence facing transgender women today. This conversation moves gently between the everyday and the existential, between laughter and heartbreak. It reminds us that femininity has no single shape, that self-worth is an act of resistance, and that sometimes the bravest revolution is simply continuing to exist, to love, and to hope. Andrea’s voice carries all of that, unfiltered and deeply human, and I am honored to share it with you.

Interview with Christine Psaila

Christine Psaila is a woman whose story unfolds not through spectacle, but through quiet courage, reflection, and an unwavering commitment to honesty. After spending decades living in the shadows of expectation and survival, she emerged with a voice shaped by resilience and compassion, one that speaks gently yet powerfully to anyone who has ever felt unseen. Her memoir, 35 Years in Hiding, is not just a recounting of transition, but a deeply human exploration of self-acceptance, healing, and the slow, often fragile process of learning to live truthfully. Christine’s journey reminds us that authenticity does not always arrive loudly, sometimes it arrives softly, in the form of self-trust, gentleness, and the courage to finally take up space as oneself.

 

At the heart of Christine’s story is a profound sense of emotional clarity and kindness toward both her past and present self. She speaks with rare honesty about vulnerability, not as weakness, but as a strength carefully earned over time. Through her words, readers are invited into the inner landscape of a woman who learned to listen to herself after years of silence, and who now values peace over performance. Christine’s perspective offers reassurance rather than instruction, presence rather than certainty, making her journey deeply relatable to anyone navigating identity, loss, or becoming.

Interview with Vonni

Some lives unfold quietly, like a soft melody in the background of the world. Others crash in like a glittering confetti cannon, leaving everyone breathless and dazzled. Vonni belongs to the latter. Born in Manchester, England, she arrived in Australia at eleven, but it was Adelaide that shaped her, with its sunburnt streets and narrow expectations, where a young girl first learned that being different could be dangerous, and that humour, courage, and imagination were survival tools. From those early days, Vonni’s path was never ordinary. Bullied at school, she learned to navigate a world that often misunderstood her, eventually stepping into the dazzling yet perilous nightlife of Adelaide in the 1970s. Behind the flashing lights of La Belle, she discovered herself, performing pre-surgery, mastering the art of illusion, learning that striptease was theatre, wit, and resilience all rolled into one. Her journey took her to the glittering touring stages of Melbourne’s Les Girls, to the chaotic, high-stakes strip clubs of Kings Cross, and even inside the walls of Long Bay Gaol, always moving, always sparkling, always refusing to be invisible.

Along the way, Vonni found mentors, friends, and family in feathers and diamonds. Debra Legae, her fairy godmother with a ledger and scissors, taught her the art of makeup, stagecraft, and financial survival. Carlotta, the goddess of Australian drag, whose phone call changed Vonni’s life, led to a friendship that has lasted decades. Together, these experiences forged a woman whose career spans half a century, from cabaret and burlesque to international stages, from running nightclubs to making history as the first Australian transgender woman to play Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Vonni’s story is glitter-strewn, chaotic, hilarious, and profoundly human. It’s about courage and artistry, heartbreak and triumph, and the way one woman, by sheer force of personality, talent, and tenacity, turned her life into a stage worthy of applause. Tonight, we settle into her world. The lights dim, the sequins catch the glow, and we talk with Vonni, a living archive of Australian queer performance history, still daring, still sparkling, still unapologetically herself.

Interview with Alicia Sainz Arballo

Alicia Sainz Arballo is a woman shaped by time, patience, and a deep willingness to look inward. A lifelong educator, counselor, and advocate, she spent 36 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District supporting students, mentoring teachers, and quietly building safer spaces through her school’s GSA and LGBTQIA+ professional development work. Long before she had the language or freedom to live openly, Alicia was already listening, observing, and caring, skills that would later become central to both her poetry and her transition. A musician since the age of six, with a formal background in music and counseling, Alicia has always understood emotion as something felt in the body before it ever becomes words. Poetry became her way of holding what could not yet be spoken, grief, longing, confusion, accountability, and eventually joy.

 

Her poem Grief weaves together the experiences of aging veterans and trans lives, offering a powerful meditation on loss, listening, and the difficult work of letting go of systems that once felt unquestionable. Alicia medically transitioned at 62, decades after first coming out and after a long period of detours, pauses, and self-protection. Her book Transition is not a story of sudden revelation, but of endurance, honesty, and the courage to begin again later in life. Writing with vulnerability about family, love, separation, and self-awareness, Alicia speaks to a generation of trans people whose stories are often overlooked. She continues to advocate for trans-affirming healthcare for all ages, reminding us that becoming yourself is not bound by youth, but by readiness, compassion, and truth.

Interview with Meredith Lee

Growing up in California in the 1970s and 1980s, Meredith had little exposure to openly LGBTQIA+ lives, encountering gender and sexuality only through the narrow, often misleading lens of media. It wasn’t until she moved to Australia, nearly thirty, that Meredith began to explore the truths that had been quietly forming inside her. In the process, she discovered that her identity did not have to be confined to a single form. What emerged was not a replacement of one self with another, but a dual existence: Meredith alongside Derek, each fully real, each fully valid. Through her memoir, Double Exposure, and her thoughtful presence online, Meredith challenges the conventional notion that gender must be singular or fixed. Her story is not only about fashion, names, or appearances, it is about the deep, daily negotiation of selfhood, the joy of being seen, and the courage it takes to show the world that a person can exist in multiple, beautiful ways. She speaks openly about the interplay between visibility and vulnerability, the pressures and privileges of “passing,” and the delicate balance of honoring both her past and present selves.

 

Yet at every turn, her reflections are filled with warmth, humor, and a quiet wisdom that draws people in and makes them feel seen themselves. Meredith’s experiences with love, intimacy, and community have shaped her understanding of human connection in ways that are unconventional yet profoundly human. She has discovered the power of online and real-life networks in giving her both courage and a sense of belonging, and she continues to find inspiration in the stories of others navigating their own complexities. Her life is a vivid example that authenticity is not a destination but an ongoing, evolving journey. By living openly as both Meredith and Derek, she invites others to question rigid assumptions about identity, to embrace their own contradictions, and to find joy in the fullness of who they are. Her story is at once intimate and universal, a reminder that complexity does not dilute authenticity, but enriches it, and that the courage to be oneself can ripple outward, inspiring and liberating those around us.

Interview with Dee McWatters

Growing up in Summerland, British Columbia, amidst the family winery, Sumac Ridge, Dee McWatters was immersed in a world where wine was more than a drink, it was culture, ritual, and connection. Though neither she nor her sister initially planned to pursue careers in the wine industry, Dee’s path seemed almost destined to intertwine with her family’s legacy, blending heritage with her own passions and creativity. These experiences, paired with a family environment that embraced discovery and expression, laid the groundwork for a life lived fully, without fear of breaking molds. Dee’s journey of self-discovery took on profound depth when she began her transition. Her memoir, Sorry I Was Such a D!ck, When I Had One!, is at once funny, honest, and deeply personal, capturing the moments of reflection, struggle, and catharsis that accompanied her transformation. Through writing, Dee confronted emotions long suppressed, finding both liberation and self-realization. Transitioning publicly in her forties, she navigated societal expectations, internalized pressures, and the challenge of redefining herself while remaining true to the values she had always held.

 

But Dee’s story is not just about personal transformation, it is about advocacy, community, and lifting others as she rises. From her early days as a firefighter, hockey official, and business professional, she learned the importance of fairness, safety, and inclusion. These experiences shaped her approach to equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives, allowing her to champion underrepresented voices, break down barriers, and educate communities about meaningful allyship. Her commitment to creating spaces where everyone belongs reflects her belief that kindness, courage, and action are inseparable from a life well-lived. Today, Dee dreams boldly, striving to make global impact while staying rooted in local community. From speaking engagements and EDI consulting to considering a run for town council, she continues to inspire through action, showing that living authentically and using one’s voice for change can coexist beautifully. Dee’s life is a celebration of courage, joy, and transformation, a reminder that our truest selves are worth embracing, and that by standing in our authenticity, we create space for others to do the same. 

Interview with Rachel Walters

Rachel Walters is a woman who bloomed beautifully, even if later than she might have imagined. Approaching her 70th birthday, she reflects on a journey of quiet discovery and courage, one that truly began in 2012 after she took early retirement. Though the path to living as her authentic self crept up slowly, it was a journey rooted in a lifetime of feeling different, of secret moments spent slipping into her mother’s and sister’s clothes as a child, finding joy and comfort in those small acts of self-expression. Rachel has long been part of the trans community in the west and south of England, moving gracefully from one support group to another, offering guidance and warmth to those just beginning their own transitions, and cherishing the deep friendships she has built along the way. She does not seek the spotlight, yet her presence is radiant and visible, a testament to living openly and unapologetically. Her professional life began in the disciplined world of the Navy, where her civilian roles allowed brief escapes for self-discovery and freedom. Alongside work, Rachel navigated the challenges of life with quiet strength: a marriage that ended, raising two children on her own, and finding new purpose in unexpected places.

 

Joining her local Search and Rescue Team just before retirement became a turning point, and she embraced her identity fully while serving, stepping into leadership and carving a place for herself among a few other trans women in UK SAR. Even after stepping back due to family matters and illness, her passion and resilience brought her back to the team, stronger and more grounded than ever. Beyond SAR, Rachel’s gentle leadership extends to the NHS Leadership Academy, her local Police Independent Advisory Group, and she is also deeply involved in trans advocacy, contributing to Translucent.org.uk by conducting research and gathering information and evidence to support others in the community. In addition, she is an active member of the Beaumont Society and GIRES, as well as several LGBTQ research groups, using her experience and insight to help shape understanding, policy, and support for trans and gender-diverse people. She finds joy in simple pleasures too, wandering the countryside with her rambling group, yet always keeping her heart tuned to the needs of her community. Rachel Walters is a woman who has lived courageously, loved deeply, and continues to embrace life with openness, grace, and a quiet, enduring strength.

Interview with Bobbie Dodds Glass

 

Teaching is basically a family business for Dr. Bobbie Dodds Glass, so much so that if you traced her family tree, it might look more like a school staff directory. Her four grown children are all teachers, their spouses are all teachers, and somehow, this doesn’t even begin to capture her influence on students, colleagues, and the broader education community. To date there are nearly 9,000 teachers, principals, counselors and central office administrators spread across the world who have spent a minimum of 8 weeks training with Dr. Glass on their way to becoming licensed and certified to work with the most extreme and marginalized students in their school districts. Bobbie’s journey in Special Education started back in 1977, right when P.L. 94-142, what we now know as IDEA, was changing the landscape for students with disabilities nationwide.

 

Bobbie has taught every grade level from K-12 and every level of higher education from undergrad to doctoral students. She has worked with students who are blind or visually impaired, pioneered the use of assistive technology with funding and support from Apple, IBM, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education, and even led a state agency ensuring access to education, healthcare, and more for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. On top of that, she’s a licensed K-12 teacher, a full-time Special Resource Teacher, an advisor for LGBTQ+ programs in schools and medical curriculum, and a devoted mom and grandmother of 10. When she’s not shaping young minds, Bobbie is exploring Kentucky’s back roads, camping, off-roading, or navigating the great outdoors in her RV. She’s an inspiration for educators, families, and adventurers alike.

Inteview with Sara

Sara is a woman deeply rooted in the rhythms of the sea and the quiet strength that comes from surviving storms, both natural and personal. Born and raised on the island of Guernsey, she carries its wild cliffs, hidden coves, and salt-heavy air within her, shaping not only how she lives but how she cooks, moves, and heals. The ocean is not a backdrop in her life but a companion, one that has held her in her darkest moments and taught her how to breathe again when everything felt unbearable. In her kitchen, food becomes memory, ritual, and love, infused with the warmth of childhood, the joy of caring for others, and the belief that nourishment is as much emotional as it is physical. Her journey as a transgender woman has unfolded without spectacle but with immense bravery, marked by loss, misunderstanding, discrimination, and the quiet, stubborn decision to keep going.

 

When her world collapsed, she rebuilt it piece by piece, refusing to let prejudice define her worth or limit her future. Today, she stands as a respected professional, a devoted parent, and a woman whose authenticity has been hard-earned and fiercely protected. Sara moves through life with a surfer’s balance, knowing when to fight the wave and when to let it carry her. There is tenderness in her resilience, grace in her honesty, and poetry in the way she speaks about becoming herself. This conversation is not just about transition, it is about endurance, belonging, chosen family, and the courage it takes to live openly after years of silence. It is the story of a woman who learned that blooming can happen at any stage of life, especially when you finally allow yourself to face the horizon as who you truly are.

Interview with Patti Spangler

Patti Spangler’s life reads like an American road movie rewritten by truth, courage, and hard-earned self-understanding. Known to many as “Trucker Patti,” she has lived multiple lives across decades, identities, highways, and closets, not as an act of reinvention, but as survival. Born intersex with XXY chromosomes, Patti spent much of her life carrying a secret that shaped every decision she made, from love and marriage to career and geography. She was a Bourbon Street showgirl under the neon lights of New Orleans, a long-haul truck driver crisscrossing America in deliberate anonymity, a Navy musician navigating fear and loss, and a woman who spent 25 years passing flawlessly as “ordinary” while paying the price in silence.

 

Patti’s story is not about spectacle, it is about endurance, honesty, and the slow reclaiming of joy. Through satellite radio conversations on SiriusXM OutQ, Patti found community while driving alone through the night, and eventually the courage to come out again, this time with intention and purpose. Her story, captured in Beau J. Genot's documentary Trucker Patti (2014) and shared through activism and education, challenges not only straight audiences, but also LGBTQ communities, to expand their understanding of gender, intersex experiences, and the cost of invisibility. This is a conversation about closets and courage, glamour and grief, love and regret, fear and freedom, and what it really means to live an authentic life when the world keeps telling you to hide.

Interview with Jodi Gray

 

Jodi Gray is a Canadian author, advocate, and community leader whose life story is rooted in resilience, honesty, and a refusal to let shame have the final word. Raised in a deeply conservative and religious environment in North Carolina, Jodi spent much of her early life surviving in silence, carrying a truth she did not yet have the language or safety to express. Her journey took her through military service, poverty, abuse, mental health crises, and repeated encounters with systems that failed to listen, yet also toward moments of awakening, chosen family, and the freedom to live authentically. Along the way, she learned that survival itself can be a form of quiet resistance, especially when simply existing as yourself feels dangerous. Therapy, peer support, and unexpected allies became lifelines that slowly reframed vulnerability as strength rather than weakness. Jodi’s relationship with mental health is not a footnote to her story but a central thread that informs how she shows up for others with compassion and clarity.

 

These experiences shaped her belief that lived experience carries its own kind of expertise, one that cannot be taught in textbooks or earned through titles. Now based in Vancouver, Jodi works in supportive housing for marginalized communities, with a particular focus on trans and gender diverse people, drawing on her lived experience to create safer, more compassionate spaces. She is a sought after speaker, a mentor, and the first transgender honouree of the Courage To Come Back Awards. In her memoir, The Evolution of Jodi: The Truth I Carried, she writes with striking vulnerability about survival, identity, and the slow, hard earned process of coming home to herself, offering readers not a polished success story, but something far more powerful: proof that simply staying alive, becoming authentic, and helping others along the way is an extraordinary achievement.

Interview with Meghan Chavalier

Some interviews feel like work. Others feel like conversation. And then there are those rare moments that feel like sitting across from someone who has unknowingly walked beside you for years. Meeting Meghan Chavalier was one of those moments for me. As a transgender woman, I carry deep respect for the women who came before me, the ones who carved space in a world that was often openly hostile, so that the rest of us could breathe a little easier. Meghan is one of those women. She is not just part of transgender history, she helped shape it, with courage, creativity, defiance, and an unwavering sense of self. What struck me most about Meghan is not just her extraordinary life story, which spans stage performance, film, music, and writing, but her clarity. She knows exactly who she is, and she has never apologized for it. That kind of certainty does not come from ease, it comes from survival, from reinvention, and from choosing authenticity over acceptance, again and again.

 

There is also something deeply bonding about speaking to another transgender woman who understands the quiet things, the unspoken experiences, the moments of doubt and the moments of joy that only we truly recognize in one another. This interview is grounded in that shared understanding. It is not distant or clinical. It is warm, honest, occasionally funny, and deeply human. Meghan is an icon, yes, but she is also a storyteller, a sister, and a woman who has lived many lives without ever losing herself. I am genuinely fond of her, I admire her strength, and I am grateful she trusted me with her story. This conversation is not just about where she has been, but about what it means to live fully, on your own terms, and to leave the door open behind you for others to walk through. I hope you feel that as you read it.