A mantra for the misgendered: Storyteller Ivan Coyote offers some 'armour' for trans kids

CBC Arts Presents Queer Pride Inside: A Buddies in Bad Times Cabaret was a virtual cabaret featuring over a dozen LGBTQ Canadian artists that CBC Arts produced in partnership with Buddies in Bad Times this past June in celebration of Pride Month. Over the course of the summer, we'll be highlighting some of the individual performances that were included in the cabaret. 

Ivan Coyote is a prolific writer and storyteller. They are the author of 12 books and the creator of four films, six stage shows, and three albums that combine storytelling with music. They have also toured public schools solo around the world near two decades, using the power of a personal story to fight bullying and make schools safer for students, staff and parents. And we very proud to have them add to that extraordinary resume with "Feather Armour," a contribution to our June special CBC Arts Presents Queer Pride Inside: A Buddies in Bad Times Cabaret.

"Back in March, when the the first shelter at home ordinances came down and the schools all closed, and we were all struggling to make our way through this new pandemic reality, I spent a lot of time thinking about all of those queer and trans and non-binary kids suddenly stuck at home, separated from their friends and peers," Coyote says of the piece. "I've been doing shows in middle and high schools for nearly 20 years now, and one of the biggest lessons those kids have taught me is that no matter how rough school can be or was for some of us, for some youth, school is the safest place they know."

Coyote says they couldn't stop thinking about trans and non-binary kids at home with parents or guardians or families "who wouldn't honour their choice of name and/or the pronouns they use."

"How this can disappear you, little by little, all those tiny violences," they say. "I thought about those kids having no respite from that, no physical place to be with others who saw them and respected their choices."

"I wrote this piece, which I called 'Feather Armour,' for them. I wrote it a little for me too, in a way, for those days when my skin feels a little thin, for those days when I feel like I might be ladied and ma'amed into an unrecognizable shadow of myself. Like a mantra or an incantation for the often misgendered, words to repeat when you need a protection spell."

You can learn more about Coyote's work here, including their recent book Rebent Sinner, which was released last year to much critical acclaim. 

See CBC Arts Presents Queer Pride Inside: A Buddies in Bad Times Cabaret in its entirety on CBC Gem.