Trans

Transgender Life Stories from South Africa

By Ruth Morgan, Charl Marais, Joy Rosemary Wellbeloved

Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd

Copyright © 2009 GALA
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-920196-22-6

Contents

Copyright Page,
Title Page,
Acknowledgements,
Foreword,
Glossary,
Introduction,
Robert Hamblin: My name is …,
Leo’s story – “A boy in my dreams and imagination”,
Charl’s story – “Back in the 70s there was no support”,
Prier’s story – “For a short time I seemed to be a woman, my face felt soft”,
Lyndsay’s story – “Gender for me has always been a complex question”,
Kgaogelo’s story – “Gogos would refer to me as ngwaninyana”,
Marlene’s story – “I felt lonely trying to be a man”,
Vanya’s story – “I’m a full woman”,
Vanya’s mother’s story – “Let your child be”,
Petra D’s story – “I’m an in-between person”,
Laura’s story – “I was sewing the world together”,
Alex’s story – “It’s not a penis that makes a man”,
Charlie’s story – “It is all about what’s in your heart”,
Chantelle’s story – “Living close to the edge”,
Lester’s story – “Living it out”,
Tebogo’s story – “My ancestor was living through me”,
Joy’s story – “Now I make my own maps”,
Robert’s story – “OH! This is what it’s like to feel normal”,
Amanda Watson: Real Life …,
Angelique’s story – “Sent back to the DRC”,
Candice’s story – “Smooth-sailing”,
Liesl Theron: The SOFFA perspective,
“This testosterone thing is opening doors”,
Simone’s story – “Three of us took on the entire system”,
Zama’s story – “To be the best man I can be”,
Zama’s brother’s story – “I kept him close, I befriended him”,
Zana’s story – “Yes Mama, I want to be a woman”,
Nazmah’s story – “You could see the girl shining out”,
Terrick’s story – “Your body isn’t who you are, it’s what you’re in”,
Keisha’s story – “When you please everybody else you destroy yourself”,
Making sense of the silences: A group discussion,
Epilogue,

CHAPTER 1

Robert Hamblin: My name is …

My name is Robert Hamblin
I am an artist. I am a photographer
I am a part time grass roots type of activist and
the chairman of the board of a transgender organisation.

I live in a house in Melville. I have my own business
I am a transgender man.
This means I used to be seen as a woman.
This transition has taken five years
I use men’s toilets.

I was asked to come tell you about transgender people.
I decided against that because it would be,
a bit like telling you about humans.
You get too many kinds of humans.
There are many kinds of transgender people.

So yes, to change one’s gender you need to:
— get help from doctors
— take hormones to change your looks and give you the right perspective.
— and sometimes people have surgeries.
But as I said, I am not going to tell you about TG people …
There are too many kinds.

I am going to tell you about me:
Then you can say: I once met a transgender guy.
He was extremely handsome, clever and charming … he he he
I wonder if other transgender people are similar.

I am Robert Hamblin. I am an artist
A photographer. A part time gender activist.
I have my own business.
I have a mother who loves me and accepts me as a male.
I have a father but he died. My stepfather doesn’t like me much

My brother who is younger than me, humiliated me
and threatened my life when I told him that I was goin