Interview with Abby Grace Hughes

Monika: Today’s interview will be with Abby Grace Hughes, known to friends and family as Abby-Grace. She is a video blogger that documents her transition on YouTube and on her blog. Hello Abby!

Abby: Hello Monika, thank you for this privilege. So much has happened in my life. From coming out at around 6, to struggling through puberty and school. Touring the UK in my Rock band in the 80s and early 90s. Transitioning in my early 20s to turning away to have children.

Three gender dysphoria caused nervous breakdowns putting me into psychiatric help. Coming out. Starting hormones. Changing name. Being beaten up for being trans. Life threatened. Had people arrested. I falsely had the police called out on me. Falsely tricked and lied about. Ran away from the UK to the States. Got stuck in Germany during my connecting flight because of a slight error on my Visa which cost an extra $800. 2 years RLE now as good as complete. Finding work here and processing my Visa. Then I’m off to college if I can.

I think I am now better equipped to help people having gone through it all, so there was a reason.

Interview with Shelley Bridgman

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Shelley Bridgman, a British stand-up comic, presenter, actress, and writer who started stand-up in 2004 under the stage name Shelley Cooper before reverting to her real name, the 2012 Silver Stand-Up honoree, transgender activist, the author of Stand-up for Yourself: And Become the Hero or Shero You Were Born To Be (2014). Hello Shelley!

Shelley: Hello Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Shelley: Not sure what is most relevant. I have several roles as in addition to Stand-up I am a Psychotherapist working with children and adults who have issues with their gender identity. I also do a weekly podcast when I interview people. 

Monika: I have conducted over 200 interviews and I find it striking that so many of my transgender interviewees are stand-up comics: Alison Grillo, Sally Goldner, Natasha Muse, Julia Scotti and now you …

Shelley: I think it is something about having a voice. Many of us, especially transwomen, lose status when we transition but I think I reconnected with my love of comedy after transitioning. It helped me find a vehicle to express myself.

Interview with Rebecca Root

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Rebecca Root, a talented British actress, voice, and speech teacher, stand-up comedian, playing the lead role in “Boy Meets Girl” - a recently commissioned sitcom for BBC2 about the relationship between a transgender female in her 40s and a cis-gender male in his… 20s. Hello Rebecca!

Rebecca: Hi Monika, thanks for the warm welcome!

Monika: We are closer and closer to the premiere date of “Boy Meets Girl”. Is your excitement growing?

Rebecca: Certainly! It’s hopefully going to make a bit of a splash. I hope the response will be as upbeat as the early signs have indicated. Having said that, we have a way to go yet – filming should commence in the new year and I don’t know when it will actually hit the screens.

Interview with Helen Belcher

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honour to interview Helen Belcher, a British trans rights campaigner, member of the UK Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity, and one of the founders of Trans Media Watch, software developer, and businesswoman. Hello Helen!

Helen: Hi Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Helen: It depends on what you want to know. I’ve just turned 50, I’m happily married with two fantastic children who are in their teens, I’ve been a computer geek since my teens, and have run my own company for the past 10 years selling software that I’ve written.
I sing in a good local choir, I’m a school governor, and I campaign on trans rights. It could all sound incredibly glamorous, but there is a lot of hard work and, generally, I think I’m incredibly boring! It’s just that I’ve had the good fortune to be in some of the right places at some of the right times.

Interview with Emma Roebuck

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Emma Roebuck, a transgender activist from the UK, Chief Officer Gay Advice Darlington/Durham GADD, ex-rock group roadie, and ex-pharmaceutical chemist radio broadcaster On Pride Radio North East. Sci-fi geek progressive rock, rock music,  and all-around nerd. Hello Emma!

Emma: Hi Monika!

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?
Emma: Just me I suppose. I am lucky enough to be paid to do something I am passionate about and as a result, make a difference in people’s lives. I am a post-op trans* woman who transitioned over 12 years ago but had been living a 50/50 life for years before that. I am 52 years old and looking back I have no idea where the time went of how I got here.
I have lived with the same guy for over 10 years but still identify as Bi despite it finally occurring to me about 2 years ago I was in what looked to the outside world to be a straight relationship. It was bizarre that I was presenting a role that almost conformed to a stereotype. This was something that I had been railing against for my whole life. I run an LGBTQI charity which is the vehicle for much of my work and the foundation for the good practice we seek to do.

Interview with Vikki-Marie Gaynor

Monika: Today it is my pleasure and honor to interview Vikki-Marie Gaynor, an inspirational woman from England, truck driver featured in the British Channel 4 documentary titled MotherTruckers. Hello Vikki-Marie!

Vikki-Marie: Hello Monika! It’s a pleasure to finally talk. It seems like a long time since I began to follow you, which was about the time of my Tribunal against DHL/Blue Arrow in 2007.

Monika: Could you say a few words about yourself?

Vikki-Marie: I am a loud and proud trans lady who was forced into becoming an activist against transphobia and hate crimes due to being a victim of both.

My life during and after the transition was not the “wonderful time” that I envisaged it would be. However, I went down the road of EDUCATION and began to study. This allowed me to see the potential in my life and with a few goals in place and some newfound determination to prove to the world “Who I would have been if I had been born in the correct gender”. Since then I have become a fully qualified beautician, nail tech, and masseuse as well as my level 4 sports masseuse, trainer in equality and diversity, and activist.