The Dinosaur SQUAD

This session begins with the reading of an intergenerational pride fairy tale called The Roar!!! The story was written by a 12 year old Trans boy and a 69 year old trans woman. It explores their real life journeys to finding pride in their gender identity and themselves. The story metaphor focuses on a herd of dinosaurs who were forbidden from making noise – only to rebel and find their Roar.

The second part of the session recounts how in writing the story we realised that the happy ending given to the 12 year old dinosaur in the story did not reflect his real life experiences. He was experiencing bullying at school. So, we formed a group of allies who were each asked to write their own happy ending to the story and then make the happy ending come true in real life. This Dinosaur Squad includes a local Member of Parliament, Police Officer, School Principal, teacher, community leaders, family and friends. This part of the session will recount the powerful impact the SQUAD have had on the life of the 12 year old and his family – in particular how he and his family feel the community have got their backs.

The event will include the launch of an edited animation from the Dinosaur SQUAD story.

Included as part of the PRISM program in partnership with Midsumma Festival.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.