Op-Ed: Liam Klenk, author of ‘Paralian: Notjusttransgender', responds to the news of a transgender woman being refused entry to feminist festival in Australia
A women's festival in Australia will not allow trans women to take part - and has banned discussion of the issue. The Seven Sisters Festival, set to take place in Victoria in March, is a three-day feminist retreat that claims to "empower "women who are real, women who are powerful, women who want be the best versions of themselves".
That is unless they're transgender, however. Prospective attendee Caitlin Therese Sullivan asked: "Is your festival trans inclusive? I'd very much like to know, as this will mean either my attendance or non-attendance. I know other people who also feel the same." The festival organisers replied: "As we have advertised the festival as a sacred women's only space - having individuals onsite who are physically men would be breaking the trust of many women. We are however open to transgender women who have undertaken all operative measures to become a woman to come and partake in the festival."
Liam Klenk, who writes about his gender transition in his early 20s in his memoir, Paralian: Not Just Transgender (due for release in May 2016) has written this open letter in response to the festival's decision:
The unfortunate incident of a transgender woman banned from taking part in the all-women "Seven Sisters Festival" leads me to the obvious question of what determines gender.
Unfortunately many people feel like the organisers of this festival: they go by physical attributes and perception rather than acknowledging gender as being something very deep-seated; something felt, soulful and internal. I have always respected sacred grounds, so part of me wants to understand the festival organiser's argument that they cannot allow transgender individuals in a place that is sacred for women, as long as the transgender individual's body is still male.
But does this make sense?
The "Seven Sisters Festival" is a spiritual and feminist occasion. People who take pride in being spiritual should be the first to understand that appearances are often deceiving.
When I came into this world I was a little boy trapped in the body of a girl. It didn't matter how much people perceived me as a girl - I was still a boy and felt this to be true in every fibre of my being.
We transgender people do not choose to come into this world in a wrongly gendered body. It just happens. And there is no way out, nor any way to rationalise the situation. A woman born in a man's body is still a woman and always will be. Who are we to tell her who she is or isn't? Who are we to tell her that she should define herself rather through her body instead of through her soul? Who are we to tell her to live in the shadows, unable to rejoice in her femininity in the company of her fellow women?
Many of the indigenous tribes of North America recognised up to seven different genders in their society: male, female, trans, gay, lesbian, and two more shades in between. Maybe it is time for our modern society to recognise these ancient truths.
On the Seven Sisters "About" page the festival organisers proudly proclaim: "This festival is where women can embrace whatever stage and age they are in, and collectively celebrate what it is to be a woman in all her shapes, colours and forms."
Let me highlight this: "Whatever stage and age they are in". And even more importantly: "In all her shapes, colours and forms."
Very true and something I hope will not only remain pleasant rhetoric but rather be lived - with all our hearts.
About the Book
![[image]](http://collateral.prmax.co.uk/collateral/91404.jpg "66009-1.jpg")
Paralianis a memoir narrated through the author's relationship to water. We follow Liam Klenk's tumultuous journey to find his authentic self and happiness against more than a lifetime's worth of adversities. At five months old Liam was adopted from an orphanage and ushered into a unique journey, which introduced him to the characters that would become both the currents that moved him and the rocks that supported him.
Liam, who lives in Zurich with his wife, says: "At three years old I began catching odd glances because I was born in a girl's body yet began to introduce myself to people as a boy."Paraliantells the remarkable story of an honest, at times challenging life, and offers insight and wisdom from a fluid position - from experience.
Follow Liam from a small river in Germany to the biggest performance pool in the world, from Switzerland to the US, the Maldives to Macau.
About the Author
Liam has travelled around the world, enjoyed a variety of careers and lived in many countries searching for somewhere to feel truly at home. He left his native Germany to study in the United States, returning to Germany only briefly before leaving for art school in Switzerland. He then became a Scuba instructor in the Maldives, which unexpectedly led to an incredible role in Belgium on the world's largest water show. He then lived in Macau, Hong-Kong and Canada before returning to Germany and now lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Liam was propelled on his seemingly relentless travels by a quest for understanding of himself, the world around him and the cultures that he interacted with along the way. And now...? Well now, Liam says: "I am dreaming of becoming a full-time author. I am dreaming of giving TED talks and the like in the future, of sharing my positive outlook on life without being patronising, political or esoteric, nor demanding sympathy. Maybe I can even make a very, very tiny bit of difference in a few people's lives."
Extract from Paralian
P178 - transition
It still took a few years to lose the rest of my physical femininity. My body lost its curves in stages. Body hair continued to sprout, my Adam's apple grew more pronounced and my muscles, stronger. As for the lingering psychological femininity, the successful surgeries had strengthened my resolve to embrace even further the person I had started out being. I would integrate my female side into the male adult I was becoming. I was Liam, and something inside my soul knew with absolute certainty he was who I had been all my life. More than ever, I was confident to not let my life be controlled by clichés and abstract societal constructs. I had just escaped one prison and saw no reason to voluntarily admit myself to the next one. I knew I was a man - not by anyone else's standards but by my own.
The Essential Details
Category:Memoir
ISBN:9781785891205
Format:Paperback & eBook
Available on Amazon & in all good book shops
Price:
Release Date:28 May 2016
Publisher:Matador
Press Folder:http://bit.ly/1ZgJJFw
More information online
Twitter:https://twitter.com/liamklenk
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/thefortunatenomad
Website & Blog:
https://liamklenk.wordpress.com
Author Profile:
http://www.literallypr.com/public_relations/file/liam_klenk-Paralian.php
Publisher page:
http://www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=3743
Notes to editors
Liam Klenk is available for interview, editorial commission and comment across transgender, adoption and many other topics. Press review copies of Paralian can be requested (PDFs of the final manuscript are already available and paperbacks will be released next year). The official publication date of Paralian is May 28th2016. All media requests to Helen Lewis:helenlewis@literallypr.complease.
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