The internationally acclaimed author, poet, comedian and public speaker (and also fashion icon, if we’re being honest) uses their work to explore themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition.
We’re living in a world where the trans experience is becoming more and more visible, and yet a host of narrow archetypes seem to flood the conversation, overshadowing the stories told by trans people themselves.
With the support of her parents and community, 14-year-old Sydneysider Sunny is able to live in her truth. When she has the chance to share her story as a young transgender woman, she can touch hearts. “Growing up, I kind of knew that I wasn't supposed to be a boy. I just thought that there was something wrong, but I didn't know that I was allowed to fix it,” Sunny said.
It wasn’t until Sunny was asked if she wanted to be a girl that everything started to click in place for her. “I realised I could actually be myself. And that's how I started my journey.”
Sunny’s mother, Carlie, said: “As soon as Sunny found the right words to say ‘I'm a girl’, the penny dropped for everyone. For her school, for her grandparents, for all of us, for the community. We all just kind of went, ‘Of course, that's who you always were.’”
As soon as Sunny found the right words to say ‘I'm a girl’ the penny dropped for everyone.
“I think every single person wants to feel as though they're accepted, right? That's all any of us want. And so, supporting Sunny is a no-brainer. Like, we're her parents, we signed up to this when she was born,” Carlie said.
With the support of her family and friends, Sunny has not only felt comfortable to embrace her identity, but also advocate for trans rights through her acting career.
During Sydney WorldPride, Sunny had that chance to share her own story in the sold-out production The Lies We Were Told presented by Shopfront Arts Co-Op with Monkey Baa Theatre Company. Created by a group of teenagers, The Lies We Were Told explores true stories of the beautiful and terrible lies that young people are taught growing up.
Photograph: Shopfront Arts/Clare Hawley | Sunny in ‘The Lies We Were Told’
The production called for the most damaging lies to stop being told, with Sunny taking on the gender binary and confronting the biggest lie told to her by society – that she was not a girl, even though she has always known in her heart who she really is.
Sunny knows that as she ventures out to the world, she will find people who support her, but also people who won’t. We’ve witnessed some cruel attacks on the trans and gender diverse community across the globe, and this has had a devastating effect on people like Sunny.
“I just hope that I can help them see that trans people aren't bad. We are decent people and we're not just faking it or lying,” Sunny said.
Sunny’s school and friends created a supportive environment, but it wasn’t until Sunny and her family turned to broader society that obstacles started to get in the way.
Photograph: P-TYE
Her mother explained: “It was when we took the blinkers off and looked a bit more broadly at what the bigger kind of society was saying that made us go, ‘Oh shit, this isn't going to be as easy as we had hoped.’”
According to Jain Moralee, the CEO of Twenty10, a Sydney-based organisation working with LGBTQIA+ youth: “Recent experiences show us that in 2023, young trans and gender diverse people of all ages are still the political football or the absolute target of transphobia and hate of the highest level.”
Carlie explained that societal roles have presented the biggest challenge for Sunny in affirming her gender: “I mean, I existed in a really heteronormative kind of society until I had a kid who was gender diverse. Despite living in a leftist kind of community, I was like, ‘How have I contributed to this for so long?’”
Issues such as access to healthcare and Sunny’s personal safety have been huge concerns for Sunny’s parents. “Sunny is pretty proud. It's who she is. And we have to kind of grapple with how much of her being trans and how much of telling that story we're happy with being out there. Because there's a threat, right?” Carlie said.
Photograph: P-TYE
Carlie and Sunny’s dad, Joshua, decided to join Parents for Transgender Youth Equity (P-TYE), a group of parents and carers who advocate for the rights of transgender and gender diverse youth.
“For parents of trans kids, there are lots of words like ‘grief’ and ‘sadness’ that are used in that space. And that was not something that either me or Sunny's dad were particularly comfortable with, which is kind of how we linked in with P-TYE,” Carlie said.
P-TYE works with all levels of government and not-for-profit organisations to consult around what the needs are for young trans people. Recently, P-TYE has been researching the way youth trans stories are told and the problems surrounding this framework.
“There seems to be this desire to talk about young trans people in this really medical kind of framework and so, what we'd like to do is broaden that a bit wider and talk about the fact that there's many different options for young trans people and how they interact with being trans,” Carlie said.
Carlie explained that P-TYE also provides access to resources ranging from healthcare to education, with the central goal being “access to space and the right to be safe.”
The group has also successfully lobbied against harmful bills that work to exclude trans people, including the Religious Discrimination Bill and the Parental Rights Bill.
Photograph: Twenty10/Ashley Penin | GENEXT x Pride: Museum Takeover at the MCA
Carlie recalled when P-TYE marched at Mardi Gras in Sydney. “Seeing Sunny and all those kids' faces marching on Oxford, I tear up just thinking about it. It was just so spectacular. Just the ability for her to connect with community, to be celebrated, to be shouted at, in a good way! It somehow makes the rest of the slog worth it.”
Along with P-TYE, Twenty10 has also made an incredible difference for Sunny and the LGBTQIA+ community. Twenty10 works primarily with 12-to-25-year-old LGBTQIA+ people in New South Wales, providing transitional housing, counselling, direct advocacy, and social support groups and events.
“The need to affirm your gender as a young person is something that ultimately will be so affirming and unlock all of your opportunities and afford you the possibility to live your most authentic euphoric life,” Jain Moralee said.
Sunny is an example of a young trans person who has benefited greatly from advocacy and support. She urges young people going through similar journeys to put themselves first. “You can be yourself and it's important to be who you are and not what other people see you as,” Sunny said.
Photograph: P-TYE
Sunny believes that “to change the world, you have to have advocates, and advocates come in all different shapes and sizes.”
Carlie noted that “although support for the trans community has recently been in the shadow of some of the hateful stuff, the support has actually been quite momentous.”
With Alex Greenwich’s New Equality Bill coming up through Parliament, this will hopefully bring New South Wales up to speed with some of the other states around issues like identity and birth certificate reform.
When asked what advice Carlie would give to parents of trans kids, she said: “All you have to do is love them. If that's a struggle, go and do your work somewhere away from your child. Don't make them the butt of your journey. You just stand up and you be there for your kid.”
Carlie knows that Sunny’s journey is right for her and continues to work hard to support her daughter in every way she can. She expressed how lucky she feels to have a daughter like Sunny.
Carlie said: “To be blessed with someone who has the self-assurance and the self awareness, it is such a joy. And I would urge anyone to have a chat with a trans person, get a sense of what it's like for them. You'll be pleasantly surprised.”
