KARRON
Being transgender and intersex is kinda different from the LGB identity. Being LGB is about who you go to bed with. Being transgender is about who you go to bed as. A lot of transgender people feel left behind especially with the marriage equality debate. It’s only just been passed in WA parliament that people that are married can legally become their affirmed gender. If you have a straight couple and one person transitions, previously that partner would have had to divorce their partner. After this decision they can change their gender legally without having to divorce. Marriage equality was only now been achieved.
I don’t like my dead name publicly known. Only people that knew me before know the name. They are very respectful to keep it quiet. I did have an incident a few weeks ago where someone decided to make a bet that he would call me by my dead name. He only made the bet for a dollar too, which shows disrespect.
I have an older brother, who was pretty typical, teasing and all. I remember when I was about 10 years old there was a documentary on tv called ‘Tommy doesn’t exist anymore’ and it was about transgender people in Sydney. He said ‘That’s going to be you one day’. He was just teasing, or so he thought.
I knew I was different, growing up, from all the other boys. A lot of the time from about 13 or 14 I’d be in the library looking up ‘transexual’. Anything I saw in the media about transitioning got me interested. I bought Carlotta’s book ‘He did it her way’. I also remember a tabloid magazine ‘The Aussie Post’ including a story about Tulisa Lucy’s transition. She was living in Britain and had appeared as male in a tv drama. These stories, plus Tula the Bond girl, were inspirational to me at the time.
Looking back I used to get teased a lot because I was fat as a child and I had what they called ‘boy boobs’. I got so jealous of the girls wearing one-pieces. I do remember as a three or four year old wanting my mum to buy me a dress. She said ‘Oh that’s for girls, you’re a boy.’ I kept it in for a very long time, probably due to society at the time. If it was these days I would have transitioned a lot sooner.
I wasn’t really outgoing as a child. I did ride my bike with friends but ended up getting into isolating computer games. I did have a few friends that were into Dungeons and Dragons. They always had the macho characters in their role play parties where I had females too. Otherwise I was a bit of an outcast; it was difficult to find things in common with people my age.
As I got older, the issue of gender kept coming back. As a lot of transgender people do, I joined the Army Reserve pre-transition to ‘make a man out of me’. My dad encouraged me to build my confidence. I started in the infantry but couldn’t make it there because of my size so I went into cooking. I enjoyed it. There was no mention of transphobia or homophobia in the army; that kind of behaviour is not tolerated there.
I started travelling around the state as a relief medical scientist from 2000 and I found I couldn’t commit to the Reserve anymore. I travelled around the state for two and a half years, and began researching surgeons online, and people’s experiences with being transgender. And I started cross dressing in private. In 2003 I moved to Derby and ordered clothes online. I was thinking at the time ‘This has got to be wrong’ and I associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses to try and get rid of the cross dressing. Basically I had a nervous breakdown and ended up seeing a psychiatrist. I was on anti-depressants for three or four years and then after that the feelings of wanting to transition came back. In 2009 I started cross dressing again and started going to the Chameleon Society (a transgender supportive society, now folded in WA), in female dress. I was also working at Armadale Hospital at the time and was having difficulties concentrating so was transferred to Northam. There I started ordering stuff online again.
I don’t think that anyone picked up on anything about my gender before I mentioned it. In 2010, April, I came out to my mum. She couldn’t look me in the eye at the start. After about a month she came around. Very supportive. And mum’s side of the family are fine. One of my aunts is great. We still go to footie together. She’s very loving and not judgemental. Word got around. Basically a lot of my dad’s family don’t speak to me anymore. They use their kids as an excuse, ‘It’s going to be too confusing for the kids’.
After I came out to my mum I started coming out at work as well and dressing as I do now. I changed my name legally the day after my first gender psychiatry appointment, in August 2010. Karron – with that exact spelling – is the name that my mother was planning to give me if I’d been born female. My transition continued from there. I had surgery in May 2012 in Thailand (and going into surgery I was excited to get rid of the male marker I’d had all those years) and I have been living as female ever since.
The concert last year was the highlight of my choir experience so far. I loved performing in it and being part of the team. That’s what being in a choir is about, it’s like a team sport really.
I don’t like my dead name publicly known. Only people that knew me before know the name. They are very respectful to keep it quiet. I did have an incident a few weeks ago where someone decided to make a bet that he would call me by my dead name. He only made the bet for a dollar too, which shows disrespect.
I have an older brother, who was pretty typical, teasing and all. I remember when I was about 10 years old there was a documentary on tv called ‘Tommy doesn’t exist anymore’ and it was about transgender people in Sydney. He said ‘That’s going to be you one day’. He was just teasing, or so he thought.
I knew I was different, growing up, from all the other boys. A lot of the time from about 13 or 14 I’d be in the library looking up ‘transexual’. Anything I saw in the media about transitioning got me interested. I bought Carlotta’s book ‘He did it her way’. I also remember a tabloid magazine ‘The Aussie Post’ including a story about Tulisa Lucy’s transition. She was living in Britain and had appeared as male in a tv drama. These stories, plus Tula the Bond girl, were inspirational to me at the time.
Looking back I used to get teased a lot because I was fat as a child and I had what they called ‘boy boobs’. I got so jealous of the girls wearing one-pieces. I do remember as a three or four year old wanting my mum to buy me a dress. She said ‘Oh that’s for girls, you’re a boy.’ I kept it in for a very long time, probably due to society at the time. If it was these days I would have transitioned a lot sooner.
I wasn’t really outgoing as a child. I did ride my bike with friends but ended up getting into isolating computer games. I did have a few friends that were into Dungeons and Dragons. They always had the macho characters in their role play parties where I had females too. Otherwise I was a bit of an outcast; it was difficult to find things in common with people my age.
As I got older, the issue of gender kept coming back. As a lot of transgender people do, I joined the Army Reserve pre-transition to ‘make a man out of me’. My dad encouraged me to build my confidence. I started in the infantry but couldn’t make it there because of my size so I went into cooking. I enjoyed it. There was no mention of transphobia or homophobia in the army; that kind of behaviour is not tolerated there.
I started travelling around the state as a relief medical scientist from 2000 and I found I couldn’t commit to the Reserve anymore. I travelled around the state for two and a half years, and began researching surgeons online, and people’s experiences with being transgender. And I started cross dressing in private. In 2003 I moved to Derby and ordered clothes online. I was thinking at the time ‘This has got to be wrong’ and I associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses to try and get rid of the cross dressing. Basically I had a nervous breakdown and ended up seeing a psychiatrist. I was on anti-depressants for three or four years and then after that the feelings of wanting to transition came back. In 2009 I started cross dressing again and started going to the Chameleon Society (a transgender supportive society, now folded in WA), in female dress. I was also working at Armadale Hospital at the time and was having difficulties concentrating so was transferred to Northam. There I started ordering stuff online again.
I don’t think that anyone picked up on anything about my gender before I mentioned it. In 2010, April, I came out to my mum. She couldn’t look me in the eye at the start. After about a month she came around. Very supportive. And mum’s side of the family are fine. One of my aunts is great. We still go to footie together. She’s very loving and not judgemental. Word got around. Basically a lot of my dad’s family don’t speak to me anymore. They use their kids as an excuse, ‘It’s going to be too confusing for the kids’.
After I came out to my mum I started coming out at work as well and dressing as I do now. I changed my name legally the day after my first gender psychiatry appointment, in August 2010. Karron – with that exact spelling – is the name that my mother was planning to give me if I’d been born female. My transition continued from there. I had surgery in May 2012 in Thailand (and going into surgery I was excited to get rid of the male marker I’d had all those years) and I have been living as female ever since.
The concert last year was the highlight of my choir experience so far. I loved performing in it and being part of the team. That’s what being in a choir is about, it’s like a team sport really.