Living Black: June 8

This week’s Living Black looks at “Brother Boys” -Indigenous females who transition to male.

When women’s business becomes men’s business. How does a culture built on strong gender lines accept transgender men? What is it like to be born in a female body but know you’re actually a man?

What if your family, your community and your culture won’t accept you for who you are?

Living Black journalist Laura Murphy-Oates speaks to three ‘Brotherboys’- female to male transgender Indigenous people – about their process of coming out and transitioning to men.

After a turbulent childhood, 17 year old Taz is just coming to grips with a lot of things, including how to tell people about his gender.

Fortunately he has 19 year old Wulli Wulli and Wakka Wakka brotherboy Kai Clancy to guide him, who he met online in a Brotherboy support group. Kai’s own struggles with gender dysphoria took him to social media, raising money for a procedure known as ‘top surgery’.

52 year old Wiradjuri man Dean was one of the first loud and proud brotherboys, and the first Indigenous transgender man to get married in Australia. However, Dean grew up in a very different time from Kai and Taz without the internet. It wasn’t until he was 42, living as a lesbian woman with a partner and children, that he discovered his real identity as a Brotherboy.

Monday, 8 June at 5.00pm on SBS ONE
Tuesday, 9 June at 9.00pm on NITV