Interview with Julie Nemecek

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Rev. Dr. Julie Nemecek, an American transgender activist, lecturer, professor, ordained Baptist minister, and Presbyterian Church elder. She was born in Chicago, Illinois but Michigan has been home for many years. In 2007 she hit the national headlines when she was fired from Spring Arbor University when she came out as a transgender professor. In 2008 Julie was appointed co-executive director for the LGBT civil rights organization Michigan Equality to become the first transgender person to serve as executive director for a statewide civil rights organization. Hello Julie!

Julie: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Julie: I am 63 and retired, but still active for LGBTQ rights and equality. I will have been married 42 years this June; have 3 boys – all married – and 5 grandchildren with another on the way.
Monika: In 2007 you made headlines for being fired by Spring Arbor University after saying you were going to transition into a woman. Are you still bitter about that act of discrimination?
Julie: Not really. I have had a lot of support from former colleagues and students. It was mainly the Board that had issues (fearing lost revenue and/or students). I worked for 18 months AFTER they knew I was trans and transitioning.
We reached a mediated settlement to my Equal Employment Opportunity Complaint after 13 hours of negotiation over two days. They knew they were in a difficult position because they taught the standards of care that I was following and had admitted a transgender student to a graduate program based on her Christian witness.
One positive outcome was that their act of discrimination brought me over 100 media interviews in 2007 including Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and even Christianity Today. This, along with two other highly publicized trans stories in early 2007, had a collective impact of bringing trans issues to the forefront of public thought.

Interview with Dawn Flynn

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Dawn Flynn, a pastor of an LGBT congregation in Charlotte, NC - New Life Metropolitan Community Church, and author of “God Does Love Me: My Trans Journey To Finding My True Self” (2012). Hello Dawn!

Dawn: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Dawn: Sure. I am a trans woman, having had my SRS January 11, 2011. I have felt like a girl since I was 8 years old. At that time I tried on a pair of my grandmother’s clip-on earrings and knew I was different because they felt right. I suppressed my true gender identity for over 50 years through two marriages and two children, finally embracing my true self when it became clear that I was going to commit suicide if I kept on going the direction I was headed. I am now a trans activist, pastor of an LGBT church in Charlotte, NC, and openly share my story whenever I can to encourage others on their journey.

Interview with Dr. Lynn Walker

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Dr. Lynn Walker, an American transgender activist, educator, retired US Army officer, and bishop in the Orthodox Catholic Church of America. Hello Lynn!

Lynn: Hi Monika. It’s very good of you to invite me.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Lynn: I live in Brooklyn with my spouse and two cats, teach occasionally, and direct a couple of housing programs for a non-profit AIDS service organization.
Monika: Why is God so merciless towards transgender people, placing their minds in the opposite gender bodies?
Lynn: I don’t necessarily agree that God is merciless. It seems to me that nature and the creator love variety, and in the last hundred years or so we’re seeing that more clearly. Gender identity is not A or B, but may be better represented as a spectrum – far more nuanced than the scale developed by Dr Harry Benjamin.

Interview with Virginia Stephenson

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Virginia Stephenson, an American transgender activist, pastor, writer, spiritual practitioner, Director of the Transgender Spiritual Council, co-author of “Can Christians Be Saved: A Mystical Path to Oneness” and "Your Heart Is My Home". Hello Virginia!

Virginia: Thank you Monika, it is a pleasure to talk with you!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Virginia: yes, I spend most of my time trying to build bridges of understanding, love and trust between people. We have all grown up in a culture which supports the “us and them” mentality, which builds walls between people and groups. I have found spiritual ways that we can connect with each other that will enrich our own lives and those around us.
I do this through writing: my second book is being published this year, and through leading a heart circle in the Oneness community weekly, and through participating in organizations like the trans-Spirit Council The Council seeks to support trans groups around the nation, specifically transgender youth.

Interview with Meggan Sommerville

Monika: Today’s interview is with Meggan Sommerville, an American transgender advocate, and activist, former frame shop manager, writer, a blogger from Oswego, Illinois. Meggan hit the headlines in 2011 when she filed a complaint to the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) after she had been denied to use the women's restroom at the workplace. Hello Meggan!

Meggan: Hi Monika. I am honored you chose to pick me to be included in this awesome group of people.

Monika: Your professional experience covers a wide range of jobs: a veterinary technician in the Western suburbs of Chicago, an EMT/Paramedic, EMS Instructor, and a paid on-call firefighter for Bolingbrook, Illinois. Which did you like most?

Meggan: Well, to be perfectly honest, I loved them all. They all had their own ups and downs, but I am very thankful for each one of those jobs. Each job allowed me to better myself, challenge myself, and stretched my abilities, and at the same time, I was able to do something that truly made a difference.

Interview with Paula Nielsen

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Sister Paula Nielsen with whom I would like to discuss the role of religion in the life of the transgender community. Paula is also known as America's foremost transgendered evangelist. She was born in Portland, Oregon. In the 1980s, she performed a regular nightclub act at the legendary drag club, Darcelle XV in downtown Portland.

After starting her career as "the world's first trans-evangelist", Paula was invited to a series of television shows including the Joan Rivers Show, The Daily Show with Craig Kilborn, and Saturday Night Clive for the BBC. Her Sister Paula Show was also seen on cable access stations in Seattle and Los Angeles. She is the author of The Trans-Evangelist: The Life and Times of A Transgender Pentecostal Preacher (2012). Hello Paula!

Paula: Hello Monika!

Monika: You have just published your autobiography titled “The Trans Evangelist”. How would you recommend the book to the readers of this interview?

Paula: It is a chronicle of seven decades. The 1940's through the 2lst Century. What it was like to grow up trans in the 1940s and 1950s when the word trans was unheard of. It has a history of religious movements and the changing explosive times throughout the decades.

Transitioning my identity to Paula in 1963 was much different than it is today. I am hoping that future generations of trans youth will appreciate what trans pioneers went through to pave the path for them.