On this episode of Tiny Conversations I talk to Chris Studer, Executive Director of Get Real. Get Real is a non-profit organization who’s goal is to help others, “unlearn LGBTQ discrimination and bullying.”

In June 2015 Get Real was preparing to host a fundraising event during World Pride at Toronto, ON bar El Furniture Warehouse. During that time Caitlyn Jenner came out as transgender in this Vanity Fair article. It was a moment where transgender issues were forced into the public arena. Some responded positively, some negatively, and some made transphobic jokes on Instagram, including someone using the El Furniture Warehouse account. When Buzzfeed published an article outlining the clear discrepancy between Get Real hosting a fundraiser at this bar and the Instagram post from this bar, things came to a grinding halt…

In this episode I talk to Chris about how Get Real chose to respond – not by distancing themselves but by attempting to understand. I asked him why they chose to switch the fundraiser to an education session for the bars’ staff and Management and how that went. I also spoke with him about why LGBTQ issues are so personally important and his own history in an all-boys school.

Click here to learn more about Get Real. Do you have a great story for this podcast? Send me an email or tweet @briancauley.

Our theme music is provided by Broke for Free.

Listen to the full, unedited conversation below:

The post 25. Responding to Transphobic Messages About Caitlyn Jenner appeared first on Tiny Conversations.