At one of our infrequent trivia meet ups last week I explained I was going to do a Transgender Episode of my podcast. It’s fair to say that my friends were concerned on my behalf, concerned that I would blunder into a minefield and start setting off explosives.
I also mentioned it round the family dinner table last week and the response was basically, please don’t.
“No lame Alan Partridge gags!”
“Just play it straight. But don’t, under any circimstances, say you’re going to play it straight and then make some terrible dad joke about playing it straight.”
“Are you really sure this is a good idea?”
Nothing daunted, I decided to press ahead anyway. What was the catalyst for this episode?
It was mostly an email I received from friend of the show, Luke Finley over the Christmas period. Luke said why don’t you do a transgender episode. I thought: great idea. He added some extremely helpful notes about terminology, so any errors are all mine; and some notes on the artists that he’s researched – again a great aid. But he did want to add some context which I’m passing on. And I quote:
“Just for transparency … I’m not trans. But I’m queer, tending towards gender-queer although none of the gender identity labels really speaks to me. My partner is trans, as are many of my friends – a number of them in bands … So I don’t pretend to represent anyone or anything, but this is my world to some extent. You can guess my stance on trans rights, but of course the intention here wouldn’t be to do more than saying: here’s some music made by people from a group whose perspectives are too often not heard (and of course they don’t all write/sing solely *about* being trans).”
Luke Finley
(I also feel that in a darkening world it’s up to all of us to wave a flag, however tiny, regarding what our values are and with whom we are allied. That has become even more of an imperative in the last few weeks – this episode going out in March 2025.)
So, most of these songs (though not all – Hachiku and Claire Rousay are two exceptions) are the results of Luke’s research. I’ve actually included two or three tracks about the experience of being trans as well. I can’t believe there’s anyone in the lovely SF community who has antagonistic views on this subject, but if, for whatever reason, that is the case, please could you walk on by and simply wait for next week’s episode, much as some people might ignore an episode featuring synthesisers.
Once again, my thanks to Luke for making this episode possible. And my continuing thanks to Jamie Pond at Plexus Media who helps me run this excellent website.
