Gloriously Unready

Sometimes as a parent or ally of a transgender person you can end up doing more harm than good when it comes to speaking out because you are running the risk of outing that person. And that’s why the guest in this episode is keeping their identity private, to protect the privacy and safety of her transgender child.  But that doesn’t stop the conversation covering topics from the importance of...

“She’s exactly the same as she was, she just wears different clothes” It took 50 years and a lockdown for Beth to work out who she was.  And now she and her wife Moya share their story. It’s a story about honesty, support and unconditional love. But also the challenges of Beth’s transition and how it’s affected their family. Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed f...

There’s a lot of discussion around neurodiversity and being LGBTQ. Many people who are gender non-conforming also have a neurodivergence such as autism and ADHD. So in this episode Josephine is talking to Anna Hayward, a counsellor specialising in supporting neurodivergent gay and gender non-conforming people. Anna herself is a gay woman and autistic. She also has gender non conforming children. T...

In series 2 of Gloriously Unready you heard from Joanne Lockwood about her experience of coming out as transgender later in life. Now it’s her wife Marie’s turn to share her experience of being the wife of somebody who transitions later in life. It’s not been an easy journey for Marie, she explains how she felt loss and guilt in the way she reacted to Joanne, as well as the challenges she faced fr...

Imagine chatting to your 3 year old and them telling you they were not the gender you believed they were when they were born. That’s what happened to Helen McCarthy. Her child Parker expressed themselves clearly at a young age that they were not a girl. Helen shares how she and her family navigated Parker’s gender identity throughout their childhood and now as a young adult. Helen is also the host...

Dr Lulu is a paediatrician and mum of a transgender young person. She specialises in helping other parents of LGBTQ children because she says she got it so badly wrong herself in her family. In this episode Josephine and Dr Lulu explore the need for self-forgiveness and acceptance as parents.  As well as understanding how your transformation to a new parental identity is the key to helping yo...

Gloriously Unready is back for another series. And in series 3 Josephine is giving people a voice to express their love for their transgender children and transgender partners. During the recording of this series, transgender issues have never been far away from the news.  Sadly, identity politics are being used as a political football with no real consideration of the impact on transgender p...

In this bonus episode of Gloriously Unready, recorded for Transgender Parent Day, Josephine sits down with her husband Tim to talk about their journey as parents of transgender children. Tim shares his experiences, emotions, and reflections as he navigates the complexities of understanding and supporting his two transgender daughters. Together, they explore the impact of their children's transitio...

Around six years ago Joanne realised she needed to hit the stop button on everything in her life, except her family. She had a very stereotypical male business and was married with two grown up children who had always known her as dad. But she knew that all had to change if she was going to be the real her. And as she explains becoming Joanne hasn't always been the easiest journey - especially com...

Max Siegel describes himself as a career queer. He came out as transgender in February 2020 and now spends a lot of his time talking about transgender and inclusion issues on social media. In this episode Max talks about what life is like for him and the joy he has found since coming out. You can find Max on LinkedIn Max Siegel and instagram @theyrequeer Has a young person in your life just come o...

Sam is bisexual and a non-binary trans person who was a significant part of the LGBTQ+ community in their hometown of Nottingham for many years. Sam is an equality, diversity and inclusion trainer with specialisms in minority stress, trauma, and gender. In this episode Sam shares their journey of understanding and recognising their gender and how it isn't always a straightforward journey. They als...

Marley Conte is a British Italian trans non binary person. They are a parent to a daughter and partner to a husband. Both of whom they came out to as non binary just a few years ago. Marley shares what being non binary means to them and how growing up in Italy, where everything has a gender, left them struggling with their identity. Marley also explains how their daughter is their biggest ally and...

Please note in this episode Josephine and Tommy discuss Tommy's top surgery. It's not gruesome, but Tommy does describe seeing what was removed after the operation. Tommy Powell is a young trans man. He came out in 2018 and in August 2022 travelled to Turkey with his girlfriend to have top surgery. Tommy shares that experience, as well as what it's like coming out as trans man in a small town wher...

In series 1 of Gloriously Unready you heard about Josephine's daughters. In this first episode of series 2 you get to hear from one of those daughters. Josephine chats with her about her experience of coming out as transgender and how the journey they've been on as a family has actually been joyful, even if there have been a few bumps along the way. Has a young person in your life just come out as...

Josephine Hughes is back with the second series of Gloriously Unready. After sharing her story of becoming a mum to two transgender daughters, she's now exploring what it's like to be transgender in a world that in many ways is not ready for you? And how can you ever be ready to tell the people that you love, that you are not what they think you are? Each of the six guests in this series share the...

Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. It doesn't matter how hard you try, you will make mistakes as a parent. The natural thing is to want to go back in time and fix those mistakes. But if you did manage that, you'd only make a different set of mistakes. We're all human and as humans...

Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. When you're a parent, your ultimate goal is to keep your child safe. You want them to be safe and you want them to be happy. And when your kids come out as transgender, one of the things you can really worry about is the changes that they might ma...

Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. When Josephine's two daughters began to transition to a new identity she found she was also examining her identity and who she was too. The process of change and letting go can sometimes be an emotional roller coaster with everything fine one mome...

Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. One of the things you have to navigate when your children come out as transgender is your own thoughts and feelings about what being transgender is. In this episode Josephine describes her feelings around why her children were transgender an what...

Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. When you're a mum you see your children in lots of ways. And there's lots of ways you see yourself too. But that all changes when your children come out as transgender. In this episode Josephine shares her feelings about her identity as a mum and...

Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. Unexpected news can have a real impact on you. In one moment your life goes from being one way to something you never imagined it could be. But what's it like on the day your whole world changes? In this episode Josephine shares the day her whole...

Please Note: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. Josephine is the mum of two transgender young adults. Her daughters came out at the ages of 16 and 21. And as the title of this podcast suggests she was 100% Gloriously Unready. In this episode you'll hear more about Josephine and the expectations...

IMPORTANT NOTE: Everybody mentioned in this podcast series has agreed for their story to be told. We are keeping the names of Josephine's children private. Josephine's daughters came out as transgender at the ages of 16 and 21 and she was gloriously unready for that to happen. This podcast documents Josephine's struggle to adapt to her children’s identity. The difficult feelings she felt around gu...