Willy Wilkinson is all about pioneering--with compassion and respect.   And he'll be doing a live reading at San Gabriel Valley Pride's fifteenth Pride Festival on Saturday afternoon, October 15th!

As an award-winning transgender author, advocate and public health consultant, Willy's work has involved implementing all kinds of "firsts".

He has trained, literally, hundreds of organizations on providing equal access to the LGBTQ community.  In the 1980s, he was the first transgender community health outreach worker to offer street-based HIV education to San Francisco's sex workers and drug users.    (He was also the first Asian to do so.)   He was a founding board member of both Oakland's Transgender Law Center, and San Francisco's  Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center.   At the Transgender Law Center, he launched the nation's first program to train healthcare providers in creating equal access for transgender patients.

In his memoir Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency , Willy shares the story of his own journey.   (His book won the 2016 Lambda Literary Award, in the Transgender Nonfiction category!)

With honesty and humor, Willy's book offers a firsthand look at the challenges transgender individuals face on a daily basis.

Growing up in the Bay Area as a child of mixed heritage (his mother's Chinese, his father Caucasian), Willy always identified as a male.  However, since he was born female, his family's expectations for him were very much at odds with his authentic self.  In the 1970s, he found no resources to combat the discrimination he encountered.   Today, his work involves  creating exactly these types of services, as he educates staffers in schools, medical organizations and workplaces.

Having now transitioned medically from female to male, he also explores the health and discrimination issues facing the transgender community.  His book offers tools and checklists for starting dialogues and creating supportive environments.

Willy talked about his background, his experiences as a dad and ways to support and welcome people of all gender identities.
Come hear Willy read from his book, "Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency", as San Gabriel Valley Pride Festival celebrates their fifteenth anniversary!   "XV on the Fifteenth" is a family-oriented, free celebration, happening Saturday, October 15th at Pasadena's Central Park.  The address: 275 South Raymond Avenue, near Del Mar.  (Note: this is a new location.)  Hours are 11 am to 6 pm; Willy will be reading in the Authors' Lounge at 1 that afternoon.  Here's the link for more information.
In this edition of Over Coffee® you'll hear:


How Willy asserted his identity as a transgender child;


His journey, in the 1980s, to coming out as a transgender male;


One of his favorite stories about his experiences as a transgender dad;


The sobering facts about suicide in the transgender community;


Information on a new suicide-prevention resource specifically for transgender individuals, The Trans Lifeline;


Information about another resource for LGBTQ youth, The Trevor Project;


Some of the considerations involved in creating service-provision environments that validate all members of our communities;


Ways to become more transgender-affirming in workplaces, schools or service-providing environments;


How to politely and respectfully approach a transgender person about appropriate terms and pronouns;


Information on a new school program Willy's implementing;


One of his favorite experiences as an educator for cultural competency;


Where one person can start, to take action towards creating equality;


The political changes that need to happen, on a federal level, to ensure gender-identity protection from discrimination.