Award winning adolescent medicine and children's gender support doctor, Veenod Chulani knows better than anyone the importance of communicating your heart when connecting with members of the LGBT community.

Today, Dr. Chulani sits down with Traci to talk about connecting across gender without assumption. He shares what he’s learned while advocating for LGBT and transgender populations and how we can all start to evolve into a more equitable society for all people.

Hear the importance of understanding gender non-conforming stories as Dr. Chulani shares how to navigate gender pronouns and communicate to all identities from a place of genuine compassion. He shares insights on the shifts our culture is making along with the important work to be done. Find out what assumptions about the LGBT and trans communities are perpetuating dated power systems and why sometimes outing your discomfort is the best way to connect.

Episode Timeline:

• [00:09] Intro

• [00:57] Meet Dr. Vinny Chulani

• [02:18] His start in working in adolescent medicine and with LGBT youth

• [09:33] Advice for navigating gender pronouns 

• [15:15] Gender non-conforming stories

• [19:15] The fear of interacting across lines of gender identification

• [20:57] The importance of outing discomfort

• [24:20] Children and a rise in non-binary expression of gender and sexuality

• [28:48] Dr. Vinny Chulani’s wish for the LGBT population and Sidewalk Talk

• [30:17] Resilience and avoiding assumptions

• [32:39] Outro

Resources Mentioned:

• Phoenixchildrens.org

Standout Quotes:

• “Sometimes fear is actually how we perpetuate that system and structure of power that keeps transgender people and people that are on the fringes, people that lie outside the lines of how society safe should be and what's dominant, that sometimes this fear or instilling fear or creating fear can be a way to perpetuate oppression, it can be a way to perpetuate that power structure..” -Dr. Vinny Chulani [20:30]

• “Having the courage to lean in to the discomfort of somebody who's different than you and to listen to them actually is already a step in the direction of equalization.” -Traci Ruble  [21:14]

• “When you take a look at the literature on LGBT populations and transgender populations, it's always framed in hardship, rejection, difficulties, disparities, bad outcomes. And I think it's important for us to recognize that while there are risks and challenges there, there's also resilience..” -Dr. Vinny Chulani [30:25]

Connect:

Find | Sidewalk Talk 
At sidewalk-talk.org
On Instagram: @sidewalktalkorg
On Twitter: @sidewalktalkorg

Find | Traci Ruble
At Traciruble.com
On Instagram: @TraciRubleMFT
On Twitter: @TraciRubleMFT
On Facebook: @TraciRubleMFT

Find | Dr. Veenod Chulani
At Phoenixchildrens.org

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