This summer Daphne Shaed gave out 300 resum茅s. She went to 30 interviews. She hoped to land a summer job that suited her skills as a workshop facilitator and Camosun College Student Society Pride director.
Eventually she took the only job she could find working the graveyard shift at a Saanich hotel.
B次元官网网址淚 would get called for an interview and then when I met (the employers), you could just see it on their faces that I wasnB次元官网网址檛 getting the job,B次元官网网址� said Shaed, a transgender woman. B次元官网网址淭he community here is tolerant, but tolerance is different from acceptance. Tolerance just means theyB次元官网网址檙e going to leave you alone, but theyB次元官网网址檙e still not accepting; theyB次元官网网址檙e still not willing to have you come into their workplace and work on a front counter.B次元官网网址�
Shaed has become a community leader in trans education. Last year she organized a series of workshops at Camosun aimed at understanding trans-identity and self-identification.
Sessions on social etiquette in the scope of gender, pioneers in trans-identity and medicalization drew full audiences and this fall she continued her work with an added focus on sexual health for trans men and women.
ShaedB次元官网网址檚 approach to education reaches beyond workshops to her willingness to share her story with new classmates to coffee shop baristas who mistakenly refer to her as a man, in the name of making things better.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 a woman, but IB次元官网网址檓 a different kind of woman,B次元官网网址� Shaed said. B次元官网网址淧eople meet me and say: B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檝e never met a transexual before.B次元官网网址� Well they probably have, they just donB次元官网网址檛 know.B次元官网网址�
Shaed was assigned to the male sex at birth and named Kelly. She suffered violence throughout her years in Victoria middle and high schools by peers who thought her to be gay B次元官网网址� an assumption she allowed to continue for fear of the repercussions that would arise if her true trans-identity was revealed. She left school in Grade 10.
Ten years ago within the privacy of her home, Kelly began to transform into the woman she felt had always existed within her: Daphne, a name she chose for herself as a young child, based on the Scooby-Doo cartoon character.
Like the fictional characterB次元官网网址檚 penchant for danger, Shaed hasnB次元官网网址檛 shied away from risk. Four years ago, she transitioned into living as a woman full-time and has proceeded with the full medical process involved.
B次元官网网址淚 felt like I wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be accepted. I wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be a viable citizen. I wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be able to go to school or get employment, to find a partner, be folded into another family unit. The sense of potential loss of your social mobility is what keeps people buried for so long.B次元官网网址�
Shaed is optimistic regarding employment, but for a large segment of Vancouver IslandB次元官网网址檚 transgender population, challenges remain.
Nearly one third of the transpeople included in the Vancouver Island Transgender Needs Assessment reported their trans-identity having a negative effect on employment.
The assessment is based on a series of interviews conducted by Matthew Heinz, a professor in the school of communication and culture at Royal Roads University, who transitioned in 2009 and recognized a lack of available regional resources.
Health care, social support, social acceptance and public education, mental health care and access and legal assistance were the highest priority issues identified by the study, posted on the website transvancouverisland.ca.
B次元官网网址淭he website is a Band-Aid,B次元官网网址� Heinz said. B次元官网网址淲e maintain it as a volunteer effort, but ideally, we would have funding and ideally through a governmental authority or body, so we could have counselling support available to the community B次元官网网址� perhaps a hotline.B次元官网网址�
Information regarding transitioning exists online, but the details at a local level, such as how to obtain a general practitioner with knowledge of trans issues, or a psychologist able to administer a hormone readiness assessment, are sorely lacking.
B次元官网网址淭o find people to talk about that process, the resources are limited,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淵ou have to start the journey somewhere and it would be a lot easier if there was a central point.B次元官网网址�
Yet the worldB次元官网网址檚 nucleus for academic resources on transgender history reside in Saanich. Last month the University of Victoria officially launched what is believed to be the largest archive of information relating to transgender activism on the globe with more than 1,000 titles of books and journals on the topic within the McPherson Library.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e had inquiries from people all over North America about use and access. (ThereB次元官网网址檚) general interest from all over the world,B次元官网网址� said archivist Lara Wilson.
For Shaed, being the bold advocate who elects to stand in front of a new class and introduce herself as a transsexual is a role sheB次元官网网址檚 satisfied to have taken on, but it doesnB次元官网网址檛 immunize her against the constant judgment many transgender people face daily.
B次元官网网址淚 need to breathe in that strength just to go to Wal-Mart because I know people are going to stare and whisper and when I walk in there I need to have my head up,B次元官网网址� she said.
B次元官网网址淚 need to look people in the eye, to engage them. That takes strength and sometimes IB次元官网网址檓 just too tired. I canB次元官网网址檛 go out and have my head down and not engage them in that way. I have to present that level of strength.B次元官网网址�
Upcoming events:
-The Transgender Day of Remembrance is Nov. 20. Exact location and time of a community vigil is most likely 7 to 9 p.m. on the UVic campus. Email Lynne Risk at lynne.risk@royalroads.ca.
-The UVic Libraries and Cinecenta present the documentaryTRANS at 7 p.m. on Nov. 21 at Cinecenta in the Student Union Building.
