Ahead of International Transgender Day of Visibility (31 March), Queensland musician Damien Johnson is actively promoting mainstream support for shifting broader community attitudes so everyone can "experience love, acceptance and connection".
Damien's current single 'Your Woman' (a cover of White Town's 1997 classic) is an industrial-flecked, electro-charged, grimy rock version with distorted vocals.Released last month, Damien has produced an accompanying music video for 'Your Woman' that features him going on a first date with a transgender person; and includes a string of harrowing real-life testimonies of local transgender people and their experiences with dating cisgender individuals.
Damien's motivation to support the transgender community arose from his own sense of identity within the context of gender and sexuality. "I really struggle with the obsession that we need to find labels for everyone," he says.
"I think it's important, not just for the success of the video, but also for the success in changing cultural attitudes for people to see mainstream media getting behind projects like this.
"I'm really thankful for the support of publications like scenestr for bringing this issue to fore in people's thinking and creating space for the broader community to rethink the way they may be unconsciously dismissing transgender people.
"At the end of the day, this is not just about a music video, it's about creating a society where everyone can experience love, acceptance and connection."
scenestr is super proud to be associated with premiering Damien's 'Your Woman' music video as well as to share and promote such an important message.
"One of the difficulties that we had when casting the role of the lead female was finding a transgender actress," adds Damien.
"I had contacted a number of talent agencies in Brisbane, only to be told they didn't have any transgender actresses on their books.
"It was a huge relief when we eventually cast Stevie [Low], and hopefully this will create further opportunities for her and other transgender actors and actresses locally.
"Stevie's niece, Nadia, who is a film student at QUT also makes an appearance in the film. Initially we had cast my friend and fellow musician Lucy Korts to play the role of the background singer, but on the day of filming she was unwell.
"Thankfully Nadia, who had come along to get an idea of the filming process, was willing to jump in. She absolutely nailed it."
#ENDTRANSPHOBIA
