TransGenerations - Series One

Episode One - Brady
Host and director Brady Peeti opens the series by sharing her own story. She talks about her journey of growing up queer in the small South Island town of Timaru, coming out as a trans woman, and the loving support of her parents. Brady discusses the anti-trans activist Posie Parker, and how her controversial visit to Aotearoa inspired Brady to make this series. 

Episode Two - Lexie
First up Brady meets with Lexie, a talented sportsperson who came out as a trans woman much later in life than Brady did. Lexie shares how she used her athleticism to keep school bullies off her back in her youth, and the lasting gift of sport in her life. Lexie also discusses how she was terrified that being trans meant being lonely, but she fell in love, got married, and had a child since coming out. 

Episode Three - Gemmah
After deciding to live her life authentically as a trans woman in the late 1970s, Gemmah Huriwai was unable to find work. She tells host Brady about her time working on the streets, her stay at Mt Eden prison, and her outreach work supporting trans women with similar experiences. Brady ends the episode by visiting a trans and queer kapa haka group, who are performing at the Big Gay Out festival. Trans icon and politician Georgina Beyer had recently passed, and they speak of her legacy. 

Episode Four - Phylesha
Phylesha comes from a generation of trans women that she regards as "the lost generation", as so many of her trans sisters died young — due to violence, discrimination from society, and a hard life on the streets. Much like Gemmah, Phylesha reflects on her time as a sex worker, and how it led to her current community work. Brady is moved to hear of the struggles of her older trans sisters, and the progress that has been made in just one generation. 

Episode Five - Sarah Michelle
Sarah Michelle Hansen-Vaeau is the first ever trans coach of an international sports team. She speaks candidly with Brady about her journey to coaching the New Zealand men's netball team, the abuse she has endured as a trans sportsperson, and the personal philosophies that allow her to rise above hatred. As with Gemmah and Phylesha, Sarah Michelle explains the need to support and uplift trans sex workers who often live dangerous and hard lives. 

Episode Six - Rhi
Back home in the United Kingdom, Rhi's childhood was all about dance, and he returned to movement later in life as a tool to help foster good mental health. He went on to share this passion with his project Joyful Movement, a safe space for trans and queer people to exercise and perform. Rhi also tells Brady how scared he was that living as a trans man would guarantee him a life of loneliness, but how this is a harmful idea that doesn't have to be true. The episode also touches on the LGBTQIA+ Writers and Readers Festival, that Rhi helps run. 

Episode Seven - Shaneel
Political activist Shaneel Lal was a key player in the movement to ban conversion therapy in Aotearoa — work which earned them the award of Young New Zealander of the Year in 2023. Shaneel talks with Brady about their own experiences with conversion therapy, their childhood in Fiji, and work in New Zealand's Youth Parliament. They also explain their identity as vakasalewalewa, the "third gender" of trans women that is widely recognised in Fijian culture. 

Episode Eight - Brady 
Capping off the series, Brady returns to her small hometown of Timaru to help process her time making the series, and her own journey living authentically as a trans woman. She speaks with her supportive parents, a close friend from high school, and even visits her old drama department to meet the current students. Brady's involvement in the performing arts is a central theme of the episode, especially how such spaces can foster community and confidence in young people who are different.