Meet the women behind London’s transgender fundraising night

This Friday, the fabulous, glitter-spattered East London den of queer debauchery, Dalston Superstore, is hosting a transgender fundraising night. It’s to raise money for two members of the Superstore family – Jade Jones and Jaye Ward – to help them through their transitions.

We spoke to Jade, and Dalston Superstore manager Emma Kroeger, and got them to tell us a little more about it.

Hey ladies! We love that you guys are doing a trans fundraising night. How did it come into being?



Emma: Yeah, we are really looking forward to it! It’s really important for us that Superstore functions as a community space as well as a queer club, and one of the ways that we can support the community is to provide a space and a platform to raise funds for people doing important work in the community.

We held a fundraiser for Gendered Intelligence early this year on International Trans Day of Visibility, and we got so much positive feedback from the trans community that we felt it important to continue to provide a space that celebrates gender diversity and those who are often marginalized within the queer community.

We’ve called this fundraiser We Are Family, as it will be specifically be supporting a couple of members of our extended Superstore family who are currently going through the very costly and difficult transition process. Jade Jones is an employee at our sister venue Voodoo Rays, as well as being a very talented rapper under the alias C’Aaron. The second person is the amazing Jaye Ward, a regular DJ at Superstore with an encyclopedic record collection and a pure love of music. Both of these women contribute their talents to Superstore regularly, and this is a wonderful opportunity for us to give back.

Dalston Superstore manager Emma Kroeger

What do you think the general attitude is towards trans people on the London LGBT scene?

Jade: The LGBT community has embraced me. I’ve always felt loved and accepted by the people I have around me. The LGBT community are much more woke than the general population – people ask what my preferred pronouns are, and a lot of the time they don’t even have to ask. For me it’s about feeling included in society, and the LGBT community does that for me.

Emma: I think there is still a great deal of work to be done within our community to combat complex issues of misogyny, racism and transphobia. At Superstore this is incredibly important to us, and that is one of the reasons why fundraisers like this are a great step forward in terms of bringing the community together.

Some people think the battle for equal rights is won – do you believe this is true?

Emma: Absolutely not! If anything, I’ve heard of more instances of my friends being on the receiving end of verbal abuse on the streets in the past year. I think this is a product of living in post-Brexit Britain, with scary conservative politics on the rise. While there may be anti-discrimination laws and marriage equality in place, that is not the end of the fight. There is still a disproportionate number of LGBTQ people facing homelessness, mental illness and literally being killed for who they are. Until this is no longer happening, we can’t claim that the fight for equality is anywhere near over. Even within our own community, there is work to be done to acknowledge and embrace intersectionality, and to ensure that those with privilege are using their voice to fight for the rights of our more vulnerable siblings.

Jade: Equality is nothing but a myth! Every single time we demand respect there is always something or someone to take it away from us. I’d much rather be feared than loved at this point – it’s really hard to trust people outside the community I consider family, and that isn’t down to me at all. Every time a platform is open for someone to make use of it in the wider community, it’s completely revoked the moment that person demands changes and respect for themselves and the community.

To me that isn’t equality at all.

Jade

What steps do you think cis-people can take to be more respectful, and help their trans allies?

Jade: I shouldn’t have to explain myself every day. Just because of your curiosity, if you’re a true ally, do some research rather than depending on me. Consistently asking and questioning makes me feel uncomfortable – common sense really.

As Tiffany Pollard once said, “ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT.” And to anyone who believes in that needs to wake up. This applies to everyone in the community! Until we are able to step outside like everyone else without facing any form of social exclusion, racism, misogyny, homophobia… People are afraid of basically anything other than white, cis-gendered, heterosexual men and women. I’m not trying to be bitter, but I’m not sorry about it either.

Jade’s 2 tips on how to be cis-gendered and respectful towards a trans woman/ trans man:

  1. Appreciate their confidence in their own gender and gender expression, and know that they’re content with their body, and then understand how it would feel to be called anything other than who you are or how you feel.
  2. I don’t have to present myself with female stereotypical assets to prove myself as a woman and I certainly don’t have to explain my sexuality/relationships to you.

 

What acts and DJs do you have planned?

Emma: Well we are very excited to have Jaye DJing and Jade performing under her alias C’Aaron. Then we have a bunch of Superstore regulars, family and friends involved. DJ S/HE, Fannar and Nic Fischer are hitting the lazerpit with house and techno bangers all night, while Happy Players and Munroe Bergdorf join Jaye in the bar. We also have Just May and a troupe of drag creatures hosting all night!

Munroe Bergdorf

Finally…describe the night in three words
.

Emma: Riotous queer celebration!

For more details about We Are Family, head over to the Facebook event page.

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