Trans Pride? It's dreamy: Kate Bornstein
THINKING & DOING / Veteran activist chats with Xtra in advance of Toronto Pride
S Bear Bergman / Toronto / Monday, June 20, 2011
http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Trans_Pride_Its_dreamy_Kate_Bornstein-10349.aspxA couple of months ago, with the ink barely dry on the contracts, I get a call from Kate Bornstein to ask me what's happening, queer-wise, in Toronto? She's Googled and had a look at Xtra, and she wants to know what is really on trans people's minds up in the big smoke. Entrusted with the responsibility of being one of the speakers at the first ever Trans Pride rally (with politics and power, rather than the finalists from Queer Idol), she wants to make sure she's relevant and connected.
Relevant and connected are two of Bornstein's watchwords as an artist and cultural worker, and they have been for two decades. Perhaps it explains why Bornstein, at 63, is still packing rooms full of cheering (and frequently swooning) audience members, delighted by her sexy, salty take on suicide, bullying, art, gender, sex and f---ing. And while she loves her university and community centre gigs, Bornstein explains that she is particularly looking forward to addressing a Trans Pride March.
