ROB MURRAY: I’m speaking with Aurora Borin. Banff PRIDE is underway and you’re going to be hosting an event on Wednesday, October 7th. What’s going on?

AURORA BORIN: I am going to try an open mic night. I’m running it through this discussion group I’ve been hosting for about six months called Inqueering Minds. We always just try to create good spaces, and of course with PRIDE it’s going to be a wonderful set of spaces. I want to do an open mic night that is a little bit more akin to what you might find in a big city for anything anybody wants to do. If they want to get up on stage and just talk about whatever their journey is, they’re welcome. If they have some kind of hobby or art music or dance or whatever that they want to show, they can do that. If they just want to grab the mic and talk about a cause that’s important to them for five minutes, they’re welcome to do that. Theres’s nothing you can’t do within reason – the one exception because of COVID-19 seems to be singing right now, but anything else.

RM: Where’s it happening, and what time?

AB: It is at The Radiant at 8:00. We’re going to start pretty much right on time because there’s this awesome Rocky Horror Picture Show thing happening at 10. Reservations are very encouraged simply because, you know, COVID-19 and everything else.

RM: What does Banff PRIDE mean to you?

AB: We live in a place where it is so easy to be queer for so many of us. This community is so warm and so welcoming. This past summer, how many incidents not very far from us were there of anti-LGBTQ vandalism or actually acts of violence? I remember one image of a drag queen in downtown Calgary being spit on in a pandemic. That’s a so unimaginable here. Banff PRIDE really captures that essence of how positive, affirming, inclusive, and welcoming Banff is. It’s so nice to be able to get out there and see the community show up for these events.

RM: I’d love to hear more about you. What’s your personal story and journey?

AB: I came out as trans about five and a half years ago. Within about a week, I said, okay, I’m a woman, everybody’s going to treat me as a woman now, and we’re going to do this. I’d been transitioning for a matter of days and this town was like, all right, Aurora, we’ve got your back. I don’t think I would ever do that again today, but now that I’m here on the other side of it and look back, having Banff be such a safe place really gave me the chance to explore who I was and who I wanted to be. I knew that, unlike trans people in so many places in the world, I could walk out my door and not get attacked or harassed. I would just be accepted.

RM: I can’t imagine this was a smooth sailing journey for you. Did you encounter a lot of challenges along the way?

AB: Oh, yeah. The personal challenges are immense. I mentor newly out trans people in their transition because it’s a heck of a time, and one of the things I always say is what we do to our bodies and clothing and appearance gets all of the media attention, but it’s not really about that. I think it’s much more about who we are inside and we really need to grapple with, okay, I’m a woman now or okay, I’m a man now or okay, I’m neither of these things now, I’m a non-binary identity of something that I know deeply felt, and what does that actually mean? What does it mean to look in the mirror every day and see somebody you’ve never seen before? What does it actually mean to walk down the street and be treated in this way or that way? For many of us the changes happen rapidly enough that by the time our mind has caught up with one physical change or a personality trait we’re developing, we’ve moved onto the next one already and our brain has to play catch up again. It is a very unstable place to be for many, many years. I mean, I was five and a half years ago myself and I probably would have said I was done, whatever that means, about a year ago, so four and a half years. Then on top of that, of course, society does not always treat us really well. There’s a wonderful quote, and I forget the attribution, but it says the more exposure and media presence that transgender individuals are getting the more dangerous it is to be a transgender individual. I think that’s true, and I don’t just mean danger in the sense that black trans women, especially, are being murdered at unbelievable rates, but just harassment or unsafe situations. Those two combined are incredible moments of challenge and we have to deal with them no matter what kind of day or week or month or year we’re having.

RM: It sounds like you’ve arrived at a place where you’re comfortable enough to talk to me on the radio and share your story with the public.

AB: I think I have. I credit the Bow Valley quite a bit with the fact that I’m standing on much firmer ground than I was before. I’m much more secure in myself than I was before, and by before I mean before I transitioned, which I think is the point. We change our bodies so that we can become the people that we are meant to be, and that means a lot more than gender. That means a person who’s happy with themselves. A person who can be comfortable in their own skin and then go out into society and be a human. Which, when you think about it, is a luxury that many people have but most trans people don’t until they transition.

RM: For someone who’s a teen or a young adult and they’re feeling that they might be a different gender than their parts are displaying, or they feel like they might be part of the LGBTQ community but they’re not out yet, what piece of advice would you give to them?

AB: Most important thing you can do is find an ally somewhere, or a mentor. I hope that’s your parents. If it’s not your parents, which is unfortunately common, a teacher, a coach, an older person that you know is safe that can help guide you. Then, at the same time, find people your age. I know some schools are still doing QSAs in the ways that they can and they’re so valuable. In all of these cases, as you’re talking and meeting these people and figuring it out, know that it’s okay to not know who you are. It takes time to figure that out. It’s okay that, you know, I sit here and I’ll go, I’m pansexual or bisexual and I’m a trans woman. I know all these things. I didn’t know all those things at the start. It took me a long time to get to them, and it’s okay that it takes you a long time to get to them too.

RM: I think having a local group of people who are of an ‘inqueering’ mind is probably helpful as well. When does your Inqueering Minds group meet?

AB: It used to meet on the third, Sunday of every month, and then we had the apocalypse. We met a few times outside over the summer and I have nothing planned past this Wednesday’s open mic night. I have to figure that out. I do have a hope open mic nights will become something of a semi-regular occurrence, so maybe we will just transition into that.

Aurora Borin. Supplied Photo.
Filed under: Banff, Banff Pride