Strange Fruit #273: Are You A Transgender Ally Even When It's Not Easy?

As a cisgender person, you might pride yourself on your transgender wokeness. Your email signature includes your PGP (Personal Gender Pronoun), you address groups of people as “y’all” instead of “guys “or “ladies and gentlemen,” and you’ve even got a #BlackTransLivesMatter bumper sticker with a t-shirt to match. This week’s first guest, trans college student Zayn Singh, says it’s easy for allies to perform wokeness within progressive bubbles like college campuses – in a sea of people who mostly hold similar beliefs. But Zayn says what really matters is our readiness or reticence to be outspoken and keep that same woke energy when we see transphobia occur outside the bubble. Later in the show we talk with Gabby Ryan from Melbourne, Australia about her journey to coming out as asexual. Gabby is seven years into what she describes as, “a happy straight-passing relationship with a cis-het man.” We had lots of questions, and Gabby was gracious enough to help us and our listeners learn more about what asexuality means to and for her and her partner.