Yarrow School's 'Transliterate' Event Kicks off Transgender Awareness Week in the Gorge
Last Saturday The Yarrow School of Collective Wellness hosted a ‘Transliterate’ ZOOM workshop lead by Dylan Wilder Quinn. The workshop was geared towards helping cisgender* people deepen their understanding, care, and relationships with transgender people. The workshop kicked off Transgender Awareness Week in the Columbia River Gorge, which takes place from November 13th-19th and culminates in Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20th.
*Just as transgender is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth, cisgender is a term used to describe a person whose gender identity matches with their sex assigned at birth.
The workshop showcased the power of listening and compassion to open hearts, kept it real when discussing the often difficult reality of pervasive violence, economic hardship, and mental health strain that accompanies moving through the world in a transgender body in the United States today- while also keeping it open, simple, compassionate, and meeting people where they are at. Facilitators also encouraged attendees to direct their questions to the trans facilitators, taking care to take the pressure off both cis and trans attendees from having to ‘know everything' and instead participate fully in the moment.
Transliterate facilitators sought to guide the group to greater transgender ‘literacy’ by answering questions about pronouns, trans-inclusive language, and more. The workshop centered around group and one-on-one breakout sessions which focused on asking and discussing questions around gender. Some of the questions the group discussed included:
What were you told as a child about what a boy or a man looked like?
What were you told about what a girl/woman had to act like, look like, be like?
When did you meet your first trans person as a kid?
If you didn’t meet a trans person as a kid what are some of the ways that the media/parents/culture talked about trans people?
Pictured: Dylan Wilder Quinn, Transliterate Facilitator, of Holistic Resistance
Pictured: Keath Silva, Transliterate Facilitator of Yarrow School of Collective Wellness in Hood River.
Pictured: Paulé Wood, Transliterate Facilitator
Twenty transgender and cisgender attendees joined the three-hour-long workshop from all over the Pacific Northwest, and one attendee even joined in from overseas. Three trans and non-binary people facilitated the workshop, Dylan Wilder Quinn, Paulé Wood, and Keath Silva of The Yarrow School of Collective Wellness.
One participant, a transgender woman, attended with her cisgender mother. She told CCC News that her hope was that the workshop would bring them closer together. “I love my mom. I want to have a relationship with her, and I also want to help her see me for who I am. She deserves to know the real me and I want to know her experience better too.”
Contributed photo. Pictured: graphic accompanying the workshop’s announcement.
What People Are Saying About the Workshop
“Everyone’s life has been affected by their gender identity, including cisgender people, people of color, everyone. Having this opportunity to connect and understand each other better has been really healing.”
“The facilitators created a lot of emotional safety for people, that’s what they do, they don’t shame you for not knowing what you don’t know, they’re there to teach and to help you build better relationships with yourself and others.”
“Before this workshop, I’d never thought about the ways that transphobia and homophobia affected me as a cisgender person. But what Dylan said, about homophobia being weaponized against us, to keep us in a gendered box, it hurt to realize how true that was. I think we all internalize that message to an extent and even push it onto others sometimes unknowingly. That’s why this is so important. I grew up in society so of course I’ve been affected by transphobia-even if I’m not trans myself.”
“Transphobia is real. It’s here in the gorge. It’s around the world. It’s a problem and we have to fix it.”
“Everyone wants to be accepted for who they are. Simple as that.”
“I feel so welcome here. Just really seen, and I just want to say thank you to everyone who made this happen.”
Missed this event?
Missed this event but still want to know how to better support and connect with the transgender people in your life for Transgender Awareness Week? More Transliterate workshops may be in the works so check back at The Yarrow School’s website for updates on upcoming workshops.
‘Transliterate’ workshop facilitator Dylan Wilder Quinn, has also announced that they will be releasing a part-online course, part-mini podcast series, part-live zoom workshop called ‘Trans Intimate, Knowing us Deeper than Our Pronouns.’
The website description of the course reads “get closer to trans people and care more deeply in the present for your trans loved ones, employees, colleagues, partners, lovers, and friends. Learn many different aspects of our lives, what we are navigating every day that remains invisible to most cisgender people.”
Other Things You Can Do for Transgender Awareness Week
Pictured: Community members show their transgender pride in downtown The Dalles last summer.
Pictured: Still from IN FRANCE MICHELLE IS A MAN’S NAME, a film shot locallin in The Dalles, Tygh Valley, Dufur, and Goldendale Oregon.
Learn some of Oregon’s Transgender History or check out this Transgender History Timeline.
Support local trans-owned businesses, such as Yarrow School of Collective Wellness in Hood River, Sammy’s Woodland Smokes in The Dalles, and others in your area.
Support trans and gender non-conforming students; help students end bullying.
Check out this list of TV shows, movies, and documentaries spanning a wide range of transgender stories.
Read our article about a local transgender filmmaker who won this year’s Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ Film Festival with his short film IN FRANCE MICHELLE IS A MAN’S NAME, which was shot in September 2019 in The Dalles, Tygh Valley and Dufur, Oregon; Goldendale, Washington; and at Mary’s Club, the oldest strip club in Portland, Oregon.
Learn Transgender Inclusive Language and Terminology here.
Follow GLSEN on Facebook. GLSEN is a national education organization working to ensure safe and inclusive schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
Read the National Center for Transgender Equality’s 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey to learn more about what issues are facing transgender people today.
Read GLADD’s 2020 Accelerating Acceptance Study: Majority of Americans believe LGBTQ people have federal protections from discrimination in areas of life in which they do not.
Take a Global Perspective. Check out this map showing how gender identity exists around the world.
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