hi everyone my name is Ian ordell and I
am a trans man and no I do not normally
introduce myself like that on the street
so if you do see me walking around town
don’t say hey trans dude just dude is
fine
never bro also so I spent the last five
or six years of my life doing different
educational events through Stonewall
Alliance in Chico California
that’s a center that’s focusing on
suicide prevention and community
building and education so what I would
do is go to police academies and health
hospitals with student nursing students
and social workers and K through 12
schools and do educational events and
trainings for them one of the most
impactful trainings that I feel that
I’ve done is just sitting up on a table
in doing a common Q&A with college
students so what I’m gonna do today is
share a little bit of my story through
those questions that people ask me
hopefully throw in some jokes and
educate you it is my goal for you to
finally know a trans person and to treat
us with the respect and dignity that we
deserve so the first questions usually
have to do with the way that I look
because looking at me you would not know
that I was born and assigned the female
sex and associated gender at birth
well testosterone is one hell of a drug
so I’ve been on testosterone since
January 18th of 2013 which puts me at
almost five years on testosterone and
I’ve had the beard for about a year it’s
not like one shot boom you’re done okay
I take one shot of testosterone every
week for the rest of my life but I’m on
pure concordant hormone therapy if I was
13 years old I would not be on the same
amount of testosterone that I’m on today
and when I’m 80 I will not be on the
same amount of testosterone as an today
otherwise I’d be baby or grandpa Hulk
right
now when you start taking testosterone
you go through puberty and menopause at
the same time so I’m lucky to have
friends today thank you for my support
system out there but it’s like being a
15 year old boy and a six year so your
year old woman emotionally at the same
time that levels off eventually okay and
so does everything else my voice has
changed my facial hair has grown and if
you grow it here you grow it everywhere
my body has changed quite a bit I now
have more muscle and less of a butt but
more of a gut all right I gained about
50 pounds on testosterone I was a
hundred and eight when I started what
changes have you noticed well I just
mentioned half of those but something
that I think is really important to note
also is male privilege I went from
living my life perceived as a woman see
now living my life as a man and there
are some drastic changes there people
take what I have to say with more
confidence folks don’t interrupt me when
I’m speaking
I’ve already been paid more for the same
job that I did as a woman I don’t fear
for my safety walking down the street
and I know that I can protect myself I
am still not a fan of spiders though
I also didn’t get any taller don’t tell
the DMV but I’m actually five-six I put
lifts and missions
what does transition consist of well
there are four different parts of
transition at least for me my experience
is different than anyone elses because
it is mine alone but I went through a
personal transition that’s when I came
out to myself realized my identity and
realize that I needed to transition in
order to live a full and happy life
so that was my personal transition
social transition is when you tell
people that you want to start going by
the name that you identify with in the
pronouns you identify with so for me I
came out as in with he/him pronouns the
next part for anyone it’s going to be
different but it’s your physical
transition it could just be the way that
you carry yourself the demeanor the way
you interact with other people it could
be your clothes it could also be
surgeries and hormones when people ask
me if I’ve had the surgery I say yes
I’ve had an appendectomy and it did save
my life
you shouldn’t be asking trans people
what surgeries they have and have-not
had but for your information I put
myself out here today I have had Top
surgery which is a bilateral double
mastectomy and a masculinization of the
nipples prior to having Top surgery I
was wearing a binder which is like
wearing six sports bras at once to keep
my chest concealed and for me to be
comfortable
I had bruised ribs bronchitis and back
problems because of that binder and I
just didn’t feel like my body was
congruent with my identity so I did have
Top surgery now there’s another part of
transition here that a lot of people
don’t think about and that is the legal
transition when I came out in 2012-2013
I had to change my name and gender
marker and this was before the court
system said that you didn’t have to post
your name change in the newspaper in
order to have it approved so I had to
post my name in the newspaper in case
anyone wanted to contest my transition
and show up at court I also had to
legally change my gender through the
court system which is no longer a lot
today so now in California you can just
change your name by showing up at court
and you don’t have to post it in the
newspaper and you don’t have to list
that you were changing your gender as
well so along with that there is your
birth certificate your passport all of
your credit cards tons of student
in my case your car anything else that
could have your name on it you have to
now contact them and show them legal
documentation that you have changed your
name and gender marker and not all
states are as accepting as California in
the way that we go about changing those
markers some states you can’t get a new
birth certificate luckily in California
they don’t just redact the old
information they actually issue you a
new birth certificate but there’s this
weird little part where it says the date
of issue and that’s 27 years after the
date that it was crafted so that’s an
interesting point how did your family
react there’s a cute story that I like
to tell about my 93 year old grandma
Billie she grew up in the desert and is
quite conservative but she’s got all the
love in her heart for her grandchildren
so I sat her down and she was with her
sister aunts kooky and I told them that
I was going to be living my life as a
man first thing aunts cooky does is ask
if I’m like Chaz Bono and I kind of
Chuck when I say yeah I’ve got a little
bit better dance moves though so that
kind of broke the ice
sorry Chaz and grandma Billie says to me
you are going to live a very very very
long life you might as well do it as
happily as possible and that is probably
the best word of advice that I’ve gotten
from anyone especially from someone
that’s not educated on what it means to
be transgender and what struggles trans
people go through I do want to mention
that 50% of trans people have attempted
or succeeded at suicide in their life
that is a huge number of us on top of
that one out of 12 trans women will be
murdered in her lifetime
there are about 1.4 million trans people
in the United States so when you think
about that that’s 750,000 people that
are struggling with or dying by suicide
so not only is it important for me to
make jokes and have you laugh at my
experiences it’s also important for you
to identify with me as a person so the
next time you see a trans person you
stand up and say something if they’re
being discriminated against we need your
support and we
you to be allies now on different know
when I called my mom and told her that I
was going to be living my life as a man
she said finally I’ve been waiting for
this phone call can i name you and I
said sorry mom you messed it up the
first time it’s my turn we did have a
compromise I let her give me my middle
name which is Joseph and that is her
father’s middle name as well so that’s
sweet is dating hard no but yes it is
definitely hard that that is one of
those personal preferences right so if
I’m going on a date with somebody and
it’s going past them out or tation I’m
going to tell them hey just so you know
I have different plumbing than you were
expecting but that is not information
for anybody else to have except for
maybe your doctor right so I wouldn’t
want to be with somebody that wasn’t
stoked on my identity in my experience
and if they have a problem with my
physical nature in my history then I’m
not gonna want to be with them anyway
that brings the next question how does
your partner identify this seems to be a
confusing one for people because we
often conflate gender identity sexual
orientation and sex assigned at birth
those are completely different
categories your gender identity is how
you feel about yourself
the sex assigned to you at birth is
something that someone said about your
physical body and your attractions are
how you feel about other people okay I’m
a pansexual or queer man that means I’m
attracted to people and personalities
not genders and genitalia I like who you
are not necessarily what you got going
on and my partner identifies as straight
I am a man she is a woman she is
attracted to me as a man not a lesbian
okay great
what’s been the most rewarding part of
your transition I used to struggle with
depression I don’t deal with that
anymore I am much more confident I am
emotionally stable which is not the case
from before and I’m living that very
long happy life that my grandma told me
too I also get to wear very nicely
fitted men’s clothing that didn’t quite
fit me before so I’m very happy about
that as well are you treated differently
once people know if I tell someone I’m
trans they start doing this weird thing
where they stare at me a little bit
longer and try to pick out the feminine
characteristics that they couldn’t see
before it’s not gonna happen nothing has
changed in my physical appearance since
I told you and please stop opening the
door for me now what do you want us to
know be an ally educate yourselves don’t
use trans and queer people as walking
talking trans queer dictionaries use the
Google it’s my understanding that we
fear things that we do not understand
and then we vote against them or fight
against them so the more educated you
are on my community the more of an ally
you are going to be and more likely we
are going to have successful and
beautiful lives thank you for your time
am a trans man and no I do not normally
introduce myself like that on the street
so if you do see me walking around town
don’t say hey trans dude just dude is
fine
never bro also so I spent the last five
or six years of my life doing different
educational events through Stonewall
Alliance in Chico California
that’s a center that’s focusing on
suicide prevention and community
building and education so what I would
do is go to police academies and health
hospitals with student nursing students
and social workers and K through 12
schools and do educational events and
trainings for them one of the most
impactful trainings that I feel that
I’ve done is just sitting up on a table
in doing a common Q&A with college
students so what I’m gonna do today is
share a little bit of my story through
those questions that people ask me
hopefully throw in some jokes and
educate you it is my goal for you to
finally know a trans person and to treat
us with the respect and dignity that we
deserve so the first questions usually
have to do with the way that I look
because looking at me you would not know
that I was born and assigned the female
sex and associated gender at birth
well testosterone is one hell of a drug
so I’ve been on testosterone since
January 18th of 2013 which puts me at
almost five years on testosterone and
I’ve had the beard for about a year it’s
not like one shot boom you’re done okay
I take one shot of testosterone every
week for the rest of my life but I’m on
pure concordant hormone therapy if I was
13 years old I would not be on the same
amount of testosterone that I’m on today
and when I’m 80 I will not be on the
same amount of testosterone as an today
otherwise I’d be baby or grandpa Hulk
right
now when you start taking testosterone
you go through puberty and menopause at
the same time so I’m lucky to have
friends today thank you for my support
system out there but it’s like being a
15 year old boy and a six year so your
year old woman emotionally at the same
time that levels off eventually okay and
so does everything else my voice has
changed my facial hair has grown and if
you grow it here you grow it everywhere
my body has changed quite a bit I now
have more muscle and less of a butt but
more of a gut all right I gained about
50 pounds on testosterone I was a
hundred and eight when I started what
changes have you noticed well I just
mentioned half of those but something
that I think is really important to note
also is male privilege I went from
living my life perceived as a woman see
now living my life as a man and there
are some drastic changes there people
take what I have to say with more
confidence folks don’t interrupt me when
I’m speaking
I’ve already been paid more for the same
job that I did as a woman I don’t fear
for my safety walking down the street
and I know that I can protect myself I
am still not a fan of spiders though
I also didn’t get any taller don’t tell
the DMV but I’m actually five-six I put
lifts and missions
what does transition consist of well
there are four different parts of
transition at least for me my experience
is different than anyone elses because
it is mine alone but I went through a
personal transition that’s when I came
out to myself realized my identity and
realize that I needed to transition in
order to live a full and happy life
so that was my personal transition
social transition is when you tell
people that you want to start going by
the name that you identify with in the
pronouns you identify with so for me I
came out as in with he/him pronouns the
next part for anyone it’s going to be
different but it’s your physical
transition it could just be the way that
you carry yourself the demeanor the way
you interact with other people it could
be your clothes it could also be
surgeries and hormones when people ask
me if I’ve had the surgery I say yes
I’ve had an appendectomy and it did save
my life
you shouldn’t be asking trans people
what surgeries they have and have-not
had but for your information I put
myself out here today I have had Top
surgery which is a bilateral double
mastectomy and a masculinization of the
nipples prior to having Top surgery I
was wearing a binder which is like
wearing six sports bras at once to keep
my chest concealed and for me to be
comfortable
I had bruised ribs bronchitis and back
problems because of that binder and I
just didn’t feel like my body was
congruent with my identity so I did have
Top surgery now there’s another part of
transition here that a lot of people
don’t think about and that is the legal
transition when I came out in 2012-2013
I had to change my name and gender
marker and this was before the court
system said that you didn’t have to post
your name change in the newspaper in
order to have it approved so I had to
post my name in the newspaper in case
anyone wanted to contest my transition
and show up at court I also had to
legally change my gender through the
court system which is no longer a lot
today so now in California you can just
change your name by showing up at court
and you don’t have to post it in the
newspaper and you don’t have to list
that you were changing your gender as
well so along with that there is your
birth certificate your passport all of
your credit cards tons of student
in my case your car anything else that
could have your name on it you have to
now contact them and show them legal
documentation that you have changed your
name and gender marker and not all
states are as accepting as California in
the way that we go about changing those
markers some states you can’t get a new
birth certificate luckily in California
they don’t just redact the old
information they actually issue you a
new birth certificate but there’s this
weird little part where it says the date
of issue and that’s 27 years after the
date that it was crafted so that’s an
interesting point how did your family
react there’s a cute story that I like
to tell about my 93 year old grandma
Billie she grew up in the desert and is
quite conservative but she’s got all the
love in her heart for her grandchildren
so I sat her down and she was with her
sister aunts kooky and I told them that
I was going to be living my life as a
man first thing aunts cooky does is ask
if I’m like Chaz Bono and I kind of
Chuck when I say yeah I’ve got a little
bit better dance moves though so that
kind of broke the ice
sorry Chaz and grandma Billie says to me
you are going to live a very very very
long life you might as well do it as
happily as possible and that is probably
the best word of advice that I’ve gotten
from anyone especially from someone
that’s not educated on what it means to
be transgender and what struggles trans
people go through I do want to mention
that 50% of trans people have attempted
or succeeded at suicide in their life
that is a huge number of us on top of
that one out of 12 trans women will be
murdered in her lifetime
there are about 1.4 million trans people
in the United States so when you think
about that that’s 750,000 people that
are struggling with or dying by suicide
so not only is it important for me to
make jokes and have you laugh at my
experiences it’s also important for you
to identify with me as a person so the
next time you see a trans person you
stand up and say something if they’re
being discriminated against we need your
support and we
you to be allies now on different know
when I called my mom and told her that I
was going to be living my life as a man
she said finally I’ve been waiting for
this phone call can i name you and I
said sorry mom you messed it up the
first time it’s my turn we did have a
compromise I let her give me my middle
name which is Joseph and that is her
father’s middle name as well so that’s
sweet is dating hard no but yes it is
definitely hard that that is one of
those personal preferences right so if
I’m going on a date with somebody and
it’s going past them out or tation I’m
going to tell them hey just so you know
I have different plumbing than you were
expecting but that is not information
for anybody else to have except for
maybe your doctor right so I wouldn’t
want to be with somebody that wasn’t
stoked on my identity in my experience
and if they have a problem with my
physical nature in my history then I’m
not gonna want to be with them anyway
that brings the next question how does
your partner identify this seems to be a
confusing one for people because we
often conflate gender identity sexual
orientation and sex assigned at birth
those are completely different
categories your gender identity is how
you feel about yourself
the sex assigned to you at birth is
something that someone said about your
physical body and your attractions are
how you feel about other people okay I’m
a pansexual or queer man that means I’m
attracted to people and personalities
not genders and genitalia I like who you
are not necessarily what you got going
on and my partner identifies as straight
I am a man she is a woman she is
attracted to me as a man not a lesbian
okay great
what’s been the most rewarding part of
your transition I used to struggle with
depression I don’t deal with that
anymore I am much more confident I am
emotionally stable which is not the case
from before and I’m living that very
long happy life that my grandma told me
too I also get to wear very nicely
fitted men’s clothing that didn’t quite
fit me before so I’m very happy about
that as well are you treated differently
once people know if I tell someone I’m
trans they start doing this weird thing
where they stare at me a little bit
longer and try to pick out the feminine
characteristics that they couldn’t see
before it’s not gonna happen nothing has
changed in my physical appearance since
I told you and please stop opening the
door for me now what do you want us to
know be an ally educate yourselves don’t
use trans and queer people as walking
talking trans queer dictionaries use the
Google it’s my understanding that we
fear things that we do not understand
and then we vote against them or fight
against them so the more educated you
are on my community the more of an ally
you are going to be and more likely we
are going to have successful and
beautiful lives thank you for your time
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