Engender Equality invites Tasmanian fathers and care givers of trans or gender diverse people to participate in our Dads for Gender Diversity Project. Rigid ideas in our community about gender, and what it means to be a man and father, mean that dads face unique challenges to understand, affirm and to support their ‘child’s’ gender identity. This project is about bringing dads together to explore their experiences of parenting their trans kids, to support, challenge and inspire each other to affirm their young person’s identity, and to create a resource that can assist future trans young people, their fathers, partners and families.
Why is this important?
- Family support and connection is the most important contributor to trans and gender diverse young people’s wellbeing
- Parental affirmation of gender identity is critical to protect the health and wellbeing of trans and gender diverse young people.
- Available research suggests that affirmation in the home and advocacy in the community for trans and gender diverse young people is largely conducted by mothers. This inequity increases the pressure on women to meet their family’s needs and limits the support available to their young people.
- Dads committed to supporting and affirming their trans and gender diverse young people have few role models and examples of other fathers doing this work that they can draw upon.
About the Project Manager
Don Pitcher is a father of two adult LGBTIQA+ daughters and has significant professional experience in working alongside parents of trans and gender diverse people through Working It Out, Tasmania’s gender sexuality and intersex support, education and advocacy service. Don’s recent master’s thesis was a qualitative study focusing on the experiences of Australian fathers of trans and gender diverse young people.
Our funding partner
The Violence Prevention Innovation Lab is designed and led by Our Watch and funded by Minderoo Foundation.
The Innovation Lab is funding organisations such as ours, to identify and trial promising approaches to the primary prevention of violence against women. If we can work with young men and boys to help promote a broader, healthier idea of masculinity, we can end violence against women.
To participate, or for more information contact don@engenderequality.org.au, or phone (03) 6278 9090.
FAQS - Is this project for me?
This project is for any dad of a trans ‘child’ who wants to see trans and gender diverse kids loved for who they are, feel good about themselves, and thrive!
Nope! Your ‘child’ might still be ‘little’, a teenager or an adult. In fact, the more diverse the group the more interesting our discussions will be.
There are lots of anti-trans messages out there in the community, and that can make parenting a trans child hard. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do and whether we are doing the right thing. Dads often don’t know any other fathers with trans kids and have no role models to guide ‘how to do it’.
To assist all dads with trans kids to feel less alone and more confident when parenting and standing up for their trans children. To achieve this, the project will invite dads to come together and share their parenting experiences and challenges. However, this is just the first step. Together the dads will come up with a way to make their stories and what they have learnt available for future dads to see and hear (‘a support kit’). We want people to know that trans kids deserve to be loved for who they are and we don’t want any dad, now or in the future to feel alone.
The kit could include tips and resources, some photos and written stories, perhaps we can contribute to a podcast, or even make some videos. We will work on what this should include and look like together. You and your ‘child’ won’t need to be identifiable in the support kit we create.
Certainly not! It doesn’t matter how confident you are, your experience can help other dads feel like ‘someone has been there before’. Knowing that it’s normal to have questions and challenges is sometimes one of the most important things to hear!
There is no rush. From around May-June 2026, we will have 12 months to complete the project. During this time, we will meet as a group via video or in person on several occasions depending on your availability. Together with the other dads you will get the chance to discuss your experiences, support each other, and explore the sorts of learning and issues you think would be most useful to share with other dads through the support kit.