Hi my name is Willy Wilkinson and this is My Authentic Life!
I'm a father of three. I have three little kids under the age of 8.
And people often ask me, 'So, do your kids know that you're transgender?'.
Well even though I've identified as transgender for many years,
I only medically transitioned a couple of years ago.
And so a few years back,
my oldest, who was 4 at the time, said:
"Dada, are you a man?"
and I explained "Well, some people see me that way, and some people don't. 
People see me different ways: I'm transgender - can you say that?"
He said it perfectly. And we talked about what 'transgender' meant
boys who felt like they were girls inside, or girls who really felt like they were boys
and he thought about it for a minute and he said
"You're a Transformer!" 
and it was like "Yeah! I get that!" and it was cool points! 
and but we also talked about how there
aren't that many people who are transgender - it's unique
but for him it's special - and for all my kids I think it's special.
So people often ask me "What's that relationship like and how do they understand it?"
Well I have to say: they have a lot of transgender stuffed animals!
And these are the ones that are their special stuffed animals!
The ones they sleep with, the ones they drag with everywhere, the ones we have to tear the house up looking for 
if we can't find them and it's time to go to bed or it's time to go somewhere,
So, you know, that's what it's about in my life, in my authentic life as a father of three
and for me you know I came out as
transgender
before we had language for it
I was born in the early sixties
I changed my name to William when I was 9 in the early seventies but,
without a real understanding
about transgender issues in the school
system
or within my family community. It wasn't really possible for me to transition
but I got to grow up and experience
the women of color movement of the eighties, and the transgender movement of the nineties
and work for Trans Access to Care
and that's something I feel very passionate about and am really thrilled
about the changing landscape of access to care for transgender people
In the state of California, and hopefully we'll see more and more of that happen
nation wide as we move forward.
And what I do a lot of is training for
providers:
mental health, substance abuse, medical and other providers as well as educational institutions, businesses, social justice organizations, face-to-face organizations and so forth.
And I love what I do! I love talking to people about
transgender issues, gender non-conforming folks
and what that really looks like. Giving us an opportunity to
just ask those burning questions, and talk
about
the complexity of gender because it's really very fascinating when you think about it!
How we've been so stuck in these rules
about gender and yet a lot of people can engage on that,
and really look at how they reject those rules, regardless of how they might identify themselves,
or if they've even really thought about 
where they relate to the larger LGBTQ community.
So I have a lot of fun with that, and we also look at practical systems
and services and how we can really support trans and gender non-conforming folks,
so I enjoy that. 
I'm writing a book called 'Born On the Edge of Race and Gender'
Of ways for cultural competency, and in it, I talk about
the ambiguity and complexity that I've experienced
in my personal life as a mixed heritage person, as someone who identified 
as third gender for many years in a non-binary gender space,
as a parent, as someone who has
experienced disability, and mixed class, 
and sexuality and so forth. And look at my personal experience,
within the work that I do
as kind of a blend of personal storytelling, and lessons from the field.
The field of cultural competency and public health and policy.
it's interesting in that process of writing this book,
just to reflect on the history of where we've been and where we are now. 
And I'm really excited about the
transgender movement
today, because more and more we're being
called on
to be more visible, to release
whatever shame we had,
and to be our authentic selves.
Myself included! I'm 51 years old and I'm just coming into it myself!
As far as really coming into my self,
as my authentic self and in my authentic life.
