Interview with Crissy Red

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Crissy Red, a Canadian video blogger that documents her experiences being a transsexual on YouTube. Hello Crissy!

Crissy: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Crissy: I started transitioning in 1999 when I finally realized why I felt so limited in life. I always knew something was wrong because I could not have a romantic relationship, it never felt right. I went into therapy and it was then I was told that I was suffering from gender
I immediately started things rolling with changing my identity, hormones and arranged for surgery. By 2004, I had my surgery and have never looked back since. It was like being released from prison.

Interview with Danni Rose Monroe

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Danni Rose Monroe, a young video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Danni!

Danni: Hey Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Danni: Well I am 20 years old, I live in Calgary, Alberta, and I make YouTube videos to help educate people about what transgender is.

Interview with Lucia Richardson

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Lucia Richardson, an application architect, a Canadian writer, blogger, the author of the biographical book titled “Lucia: The Life of a Transgender Person” (2015). Hello Lucia!

Lucia: Hi Monika. Thanks for the opportunity. As always, it is nice to have a voice, and thanks for taking the time.
Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Lucia: I graduated from the University of Moncton (1999) in New Brunswick, Canada with a BSc. Major Computer Sciences and Minor in Informatics Management. My mother tongue language is French and I have been working as an IT professional for the past 18+ years. I have worked for the Government and for various financial/insurance companies throughout Canada and the US: Sunlife, TIAA CREF, Fintrac, and Farm Credit Canada. 
Also, I have worked as an IT Consultant for OAO Technologies, CGI, and Keanes Canada (now better known under the name: “NTT Data”) and also with Pason Inc. (Oil Industry) and AT&T (Telecom).

Interview with Micheline Montreuil

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Micheline Anne Hélène Montreuil, a Quebec lawyer, teacher, writer, radio host, trade unionist, and politician from Canada. Hello Micheline!

Micheline: Hello Monika; how are you today?

Monika: I am fine, thank you. Could you say a few words about yourself?

Micheline: Well I could say that I am just an ordinary girl, but being also at the same time a little bit special because I am a transgender. Otherwise, on a professional level, I am just a lawyer, a professor of law, management, and ethics at university, a writer, and a lecturer.

Monika: You made yourself known with your struggles for transgender rights in Canada. Could you elaborate on some of your initiatives in this respect? 

Micheline: My first initiatives were about my name. I wished only to add the first name Micheline to my birth certificate to allow me to have a driver’s license under the name of Micheline Montreuil but unfortunately, the Registrar of civil status denied me this right.

Interview with Nika Fontaine

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Nika Fontaine, an inspirational Canadian artist based in Berlin, Germany, coffin designer, curator of the Kitsch Lexikon and Kitschypedia. Her works consist of glitter paintings, sculptures, video, music, photography, and performance art. Hello Nika!

Nika: Hello Monika! Thank you for the invitation, your blog played a big role in my process of acceptance!

Monika: Thank you! Could you say a few words about yourself?
Nika: I very much like your introduction, maybe I can just make it more precise. I am French Canadian and I have been living in Berlin for almost seven years now. I started the transition process one year and a half ago.

Interview with Brae Carnes

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Brae Carnes, a young transgender activist, and vlogger from Canada. Hello Brae!

Brae: Hello :)

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Brae: I am 23, and currently a trans rights activist. Specifically opposing the amendments made to bill c279 by Canadian senator Donald Plett.

Monika: You hit the headlines in February 2015 when the Canadian media covered your social media campaign against bathroom bans for transgender women. Were you satisfied with the way the media covered your campaign?

Brae: I was satisfied because it was coverage, which I was very grateful for. They somewhat simplified my campaign, which is understandable as anything trans* is hard for the public to understand.

Interview with Antonia Stevens

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Antonia Stevens, an Icelandic-born transgender woman from Canada. Hello Antonia!

Antonia: Hey, it’s a pleasure to meet you and I’m honored to be a part of the Heroine series!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Antonia: I’m 35 years old, currently living in Toronto, Canada. I’m a huge nerd and have always been but I also enjoy nature and the outdoors. I love sailing, cycling, hiking, canoeing, and kayaking. On the flip side, I love working on open-source software and hardware so I guess it balances out. I work in IT security so I and my colleagues help companies defend against hackers by finding the problems before the hackers do.

Monika: What do you think about the present situation of transgender women in Canadian society?

Antonia: It’s much better than I thought it would be when I started my journey, I guess my expectations were set back in ’93 when I first heard of the term transgender and started identifying myself as trans. I honestly expected to lose everything, job, family, and friends but so far I’ve not lost anything but gained so much.

Interview with Antonette Rea

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Antonette Alexandra Rea, an inspirational transgender poet, and activist from Canada. Hello Antonette!

Antonette: Hi Monika, thank you for your interest.

Monika: We are having this interview at the time when you are recuperating from the car accident. How is your health, Antonette?

Antonette: I am in a far better mental space than I had been due to the pain and limited mobility while I heal. I was hit by a car and dislocated a shoulder and my other hand remains numb though the feeling returned in my shoulder and sciatica has settled down at the moment.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Antonette: I was a street surviving Queen of the night. My street poet handle used to be “Miss Understood.” My poetry was a coping mechanism when working the stroll and then it became a useful healing vehicle for processing so much adversity. The adversity that I didn't think had affected me until I had stopped using drugs and escaped from a life of prostitution. Sex and drugs go hand in hand it seems in some form or another.
My writing has allowed me to process so much negativity, where family and friends were nowhere to be found. Performing these difficult poems in front of an audience is like taking the bandage off a wound because It’s almost healed. There will always be the scars, but I can now let the past go and live more at the moment.

Interview with Carys Massarella

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Carys Massarella, a doctor of emergency medicine at McMaster University and Lead Physician of the Transcare Program at Quest Community Health Centre in St. Catharine’s, Canada. She grew up in Sudbury, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Western Ontario. Hello Carys!

Carys: Hello Monika!

Monika: You are one of few ‘non-pathologizing’ trans-care health providers in Ontario. Could you explain what ‘Non-Pathologizing’ stands for?

Carys: A non-pathologizing approach to transgender care essentially implies that there is no diagnosis to make with transgender people. The idea that this is a pathologic process is patently absurd. There is no inherent biological risk in being transgendered.

In that I mean by being transgendered there is no measurable biological effect in a negative way. The documented poor outcomes for trans-identified individuals are a product of issues related to the social determinants of health that affect all such marginalized populations such as poverty, homelessness, access to health care, and violence. These are corrected at the political level with advocacy from health care providers and transgender activists as key players.

So for me, there is no diagnosis essentially to make. I allow transgender people to claim their identity and then provide safe and medically appropriate access to cross-gender hormone therapy and surgery plus support through the transition. That is the essence of what I do.

Interview with Addie Vincent

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Addie Vincent, a Chapman University student that made history as the first transgender contestant in Delta Tau Delta’s philanthropy pageant. Hello Addie!

Addie: Hello, Monika! Thanks for having me!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Addie: Of course. My name is Addie and I’m a senior at Chapman University. I was born in Canada, raised in Michigan, and currently attending school in sunny California. I identify as a Trans* person, more specifically as a gender queer person with they/them/their preferred gender pronouns.

Interview with Cadence Matthews

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Cadence W. Matthews, a young transgender woman from Canada. Hello Cadence!

Cadence: Hi Monika; thank you for having me.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Cadence: Well, I am 27, I work in the hair extension industry, as well as doing some acting, singing, and other artistic pursuits. 

Monika: Why did you decide to share your transition details in the media?

Cadence: I think it's important to share my journey as a way of giving back to the community. Trans visibility has only recently increased in a positive way , and I want to be a part of that.

Interview with Ianna Book

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Ianna Book, an inspirational photographer from Canada, author of Trans Avenue, a series of photographic self-portraits taken in Montréal and New York from 2011 to 2013. Hello Ianna!

Ianna: Hi Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Ianna: Of course! I was born in Lévis, a small town in Québec, Canada. My parents divorced early and I lived with my brother and my single mom in a difficult economic situation. From a young age, I’ve always felt perturbed and was always asking myself many questions.
Puberty is when I started to feel a need to express my femininity. I isolated myself to live out that reality because I was scared. At the beginning of adulthood, I moved to Montréal to study visual arts.
After many many years of denial and hesitation, I started, four years ago, to move forward with the process of my transition and gender adjustment (mtf). It was very difficult at first but necessary. In 2013, I published Trans Avenue, a collection of photographs tracing a part of this period of change.

Interview with Morgan M Page

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Morgan M Page, a Canadian transfeminist activist, artist, film director, writer, founder and curator of Trans Women’s Arts Toronto, and recipient multiple awards, including two SF MOTHA awards and the LGBT Youthline’s Outstanding Contribution to Community Empowerment Award. Her performance and video art has shown in galleries and festivals around the world, including NEMAF New Media Arts Festival (Seoul, South Korea, 2013) and the Adelaide Street Gallery (Melbourne, Australia, 2014). Hello Morgan!

Morgan: Hey there.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Morgan: Sure, I’m a performance + video artist, activist, writer, and Santera in Toronto. I’ve been an activist for sex workers’ rights for about eight years now. I travel throughout Canada and the United States, lecturing and performing, and my video art has been screened in Canada, Hong Kong, and South Korea.

Monika: You describe yourself as a transfeminist. What does transfeminism espouse? 

Morgan: To me, transfeminism is a political movement around the equitable treatment of all people. And it means looking at things intersectionally – that people receive both privilege and oppression on multiple fronts, such as race, class, and gender, and that these issues need to be addressed.

I think for me transfeminism centres the experiences of trans people, particularly trans women. So, issues that affect us, such as access to health care, the criminalization of sex work and HIV non-disclosure, racism, treatment of prisoners, and immigration policy are at the forefront of all discussions.

Interview with Jessica Tiffany

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Jessica Tiffany, a young video blogger from Canada that documents her transition on YouTube. Hello Jessica!

Jessica: Hi Monika! Thanks for interviewing me for your site!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Jessica: I’m a 27-year-old transgirl, I started on hormones almost 2 years ago and I’ve been living full-time as a woman for over a year. I’m much happier now than I was before, I love being female.

Monika: Why did you decide to share your transition details on YouTube?
Jessica: I’d watched a few random transgender video blogs before I decided for sure that I was going to transition. I used to frequent /r/transgender and /r/asktransgender on Reddit quite often and at the time people were posting videos occasionally to show what they looked and sounded like.

Interview with Lisa Salazar

Monika: Today I would like to invite you to meet Lisa Salazar, a Canadian transgender advocate, graphic designer, photographer, educator on the transgender phenomenon, and author of the book titled "Transparently: Behind the Scenes of a Good Life" (2011). Hello Lisa!

Lisa: Hi Monika, thank you for your interest and for the opportunity to share with you and your friends.

Monika: Could you say a few words about your career so far?

Lisa: I have been a self-employed graphic designer all of my professional life. Unfortunately, my current work situation is very different from what it was five years ago — I am severely underemployed.

I attribute this to four reasons; first, my client base has shrunk slowly as many of my clients (who are about the same age as me) have retired; second, the economic slow down has made finding new clients and employment very difficult; third, my age (I’m 62); and fourth, being transgender is a liability when it comes to doing business.