rare air 12 | tina ross

As a young boy growing up in Vancouver, Canada, Tina Ross had one big wish.  To be a girl.

She had no way of explaining why she felt different.  But those differences made her withdrawn and anti-social because she could never “be herself”.
 
A letter wrongly addressed to “Tina Ross” was to give the young boy a name, when finally, decades later living in Perth, Western Australia she was able to make her wish come true.

I met Tina when she was asked to join in a panel discussion for media about reporting transgender.  The panel was convened in the wake of former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner’s gender reassignment and coming out as Caitlyn Jenner.

Although Tina’s transition happened quite smoothly, thanks to an accepting family back in Canada and having a good job to pay the bills, she is very aware of the pitfalls of life as a transgender person.

Two years after gender reassignment surgery in Thailand, she brims with such enthusiasm for her new life as Tina, the friends, the fun, the sense of finally being able to be “herself” full-time.

AND she is getting comfortable with the idea that she has an advocacy role to play within the community.

Three Gates Media thanks Tina so much for sharing her story. Tina has requested the use of the female pronoun throughout this piece.

Theme music Les Jeunes Pousses by Françoiz Breût
Production music You Are Truth from “Convalesence” by Anima ( Free Music Archive)

Recorded at the studios of RTRFM, Beaufort St, Mt Lawley Western Australia 

Read the explainer

As a young boy growing up in Vancouver, Canada, Tina Ross had one big wish.  To be a girl. She had no way of explaining why she felt different.  But those differences made her withdrawn and anti-social because she could never "be herself".