The ongoing controversy in North Carolina over access to bathrooms has increased the general public's awareness of issues facing transgender people. One thing you might not think about is voice: How does that essential tool of communication change with gender transition? It's something that has deep emotional and psychological resonance. It's also something that's playing out in a growing number of transgender choruses across the country.
As a young child growing up in South Africa, Gillian Power sang in school and church choirs.
"It was one of the things I remember from that time as something that was just so deeply joyful," Power recalls. Now she is in her early 40s. She came out as transgender a couple of years ago.
"A person's sense of identity and who they are is so inextricably linked to their voice," Power says. "Voice is probably one of the deepest signifiers of who a person is."
Female hormones didn't change Power's voice. So she's taking voice lessons. As she works with her teacher, Power seems to find the confidence to really breathe, to release feelings, to express her true self — things she says felt incompatible with her body for so long.
Power lives in Kansas City with her wife and two young children. Last year on a business trip to Boston, she sat in on a rehearsal of that city's Butterfly Music Transgender Chorus.
More
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
5 comments:
These ill people have been given power by the corrupt evil media.
.03% of the population and they take up 20% of the news stories.
PULEASE! Lay off this ignorant BS!
Tell me about people who are contributing cool things to Society!
How about the emotional trauma of a woman who has been traumatized by a male, in the ladies room, seeing a male walk into the ladies room. What about what she feels? There are, unfortunately, a lot more women who have been attacked, then there are transgender.
The media is a joke and the perverts running the media all have an agenda. Who really cares about these people. We know who you are now lets move on. America The Freak Show. Maybe .03% can elect Caitlyn lol get over yourselves
So he thinks HE can sing??. Really pisses me off. The article refers to her, she, all the feminine attributes. they do not apply no matter how his little mind thinks. He is not a she,he's still a man
Post a Comment