Indigenous, Trans, and a Twin

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Available Summary:

"Taz and Raj show that the bond between twins stays strong even when one of them changes gender." -YouTube.

Jack's Summary:

In this gorgeous video, 18-year-old Indigenous twins Taz and Raja are interviewed and filmed at the beach together. They talk about the difficulty of being separated after living their early years together in a foster home, and Taz talks about his struggles with coming out, homelessness, loss, and suicidal thoughts. He describes the conflict which arose from him coming out as same-sex-attracted, the grief of losing his mother after reuniting only months before, and falling into depression.

The short film becomes joyful when Taz describes figuring out his Brotherboy trans male identity, explaining with a smile that he realised, "I still like chicks, but I don't really like being one." Referring to other Indigenous trans men, he says, "I think it's super important for young people to see this, because there's other younger Brotherboys that are going through the same thing. They really need to hear from someone who came through the other side of it."

Raja describes initially being frustrated when her brother re-entered her life after leaving without explanation, but makes it clear that she supports his trans identity, referring to him as Taz and with he/him/his pronouns. "I've always wanted to have a big brother," she says, with Taz noting, "It's not sister-and-sister anymore, it's sister-and-brother, and she's really taken to it."

Toward the end of the film, Raja says, "To my brother, I love you, and you're amazing, and you're inspiring. I'm gonna support you. No matter what, I'm gonna love you, I'm not gonna walk away... It's not gonna change how much I love you or care for you, and I want you to be happy, in the end."

Taz ends the film by saying, "It's still a long way to go with loving myself, but I do a lot more than what I did... There is light at the end of the tunnel, you've just gotta keep going."