Diversity Rules Magazine

4 Diversity Rules Magazine December 2014 Scott Turner Schofield is an award-winning performer and highly acclaimed diversity speaker on Trans- gender issues. Invit- ing a presentation, workshop, reading or performance guarantees high-level, in-depth ex- ploration of the T in GBLTQ aimed at welcoming beginners, affirming communities, and equipping advocates. At least, that's what university admin- istrators, artistic directors, and HR departments have been saying for over a decade now. JRK: Can you give Diversity Rules readers an idea of who Scott Schofield is -- where you are from and all that good basic information? STS: I'm a man who was a woman. I'm a straight-ish dude who used to be a lesbian, but who most people think is a gay teenager. I have been out for over 18 years - 14 of which I have understood myself as a transgender person. I am 34 years old - an early Mil- lennial. When I was born, I lived with my mom, aunt, un- cle, and cousins. My uncle is Black, and our family is blended racially as well as parentally. Interestingly from an LGBTQ perspective, my aunt and uncle couldn't get married until I was 2, because until 1982, interracial marriage was illegal in Texas, where we lived. From a racial perspective, my uncle was my first father, and this relationship is profound to my understanding of race. In addition, I have two half- sisters who are ai and live in ailand. I have lived in 25 places since 1980. I have spent qual- ity, non-tourist time in Latin America, South Africa, Asia, and Alaska. My parents are British and I lived in England for 7 years. I have spent most of my life in the US South. At one point my single mother collected welfare and depended on family to get by. We became middle class by marriage. We moved back to the US from the UK at a good moment in the exchange rate. We liter- ally doubled our money and became upper class. I at- tended private high school and university, and I have no debt. However transgender diversity speaking and storytelling isn't exactly lucrative, so I am grateful for the Affordable Care Act and other social programs to help me be a productive member of society. I have no physical disabilities, but I live with Bipolar disorder and PTSD, which disrupted my life a lot be- fore I was diagnosed and learned to thrive. I know that's a lot, but I think it demonstrates the lived experience that allows me to have an intersec- tional approach when I speak and work on diversity issues. e first step is being able to take stock of your life exactly as it is - where you are privileged and where you are oppressed, and where it's a mix - and then see how that trains your perspective on the world. Plus it allows me to be an ally to lot of people. JRK: You are a highly acclaimed diversity speaker on transgender issues. How did you get started with gender diversity training? STS: My honors thesis at Emory University was my one-person show Underground Transit. I began tour- ing the show before I graduated in 2002, and I have never stopped. However, back in the early 2000s, people were much less aware of transgender issues than they are now - and we are not aware enough even now! So, in order to entice people to come see a show about transgender identity, I had to teach them what it was in the first place. Wherever I toured, I gave class talks and workshops. Since the Great Re- cession, it has become much harder to tour perfor- mances - they're just too expensive. But people want to learn, and now I have a reputation as a teacher as well as an artist. So that's what I do now. LINKS: www.scott-t-schofield.com www.youtube.com/users/ videos/undergroundtrans JRK: You state in your bio that your passion for your diversity training work was "indelibly Shredding Labels With a Wink and a Smile A Chat With Scott Turner Schofield An Interview By Jim Koury, Editor/Publisher

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