Today is the International Transgender Day of Visibility, which is dedicated to celebrating trans people and their contributions to our society and also to raising awareness of the discrimination that transgender people face.
To mark the occasion, Borderland Pride has released a limited series podcast on their website. It is called “Behold Dianna”.
This series chronicles the life of Dianna Boileau, who spent her youth in Fort Frances and Rainy River – where she gained the support of Dr. Harold Challis, a local physician who was ahead of his time and supported her in becoming one of the first Canadians to receive gender-confirming surgery.
This series is based on Dianna’s own words taken from from her groundbreaking memoir “Behold, I Am a Woman” and also includes commentary and reflections from present-day members of the Rainy River District LGBTQ2 community and audio of an interview given by Dianna herself.
I am fortunate enough to play a small role in helping to bring Dianna’s story to life. As a member of Fort Frances Little Theatre, I know that I can speak for our entire group of performers in saying that we are honoured to be lending our voices to this important project.
This series also features our former morning host Caitlin Hartlen. She has done a wonderful job not only as a cast member, but as a recording and sound editor as well. Caitlin is now the creator and host of the podcast Out of Context with Caitlin Hartlen. She is also a board member of Fierté Canada Pride.
I encourage you to listen to the series and to learn even more through Borderland Pride’s website and their Facebook page.
