Digital Transgender Archive

Interview with Daye Pope

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Daye Pope identifies as a woman and was assigned male at birth. She was born in Centerville, Iowa and spent part of her childhood on a farm outside Nashua, Iowa. She spent the bulk of her school years in Clear Lake, Iowa. She has an older sister, and her parents are still married. She’s always been very feminine and in kindergarten she was bullied for her gender expression by boys who told her she was like a girl. Pope’s parents allowed her to grow out her hair long and let her play barbies with her sister up until a certain point. She grew up in a working-class family, playing on the farm with her dogs and sister and wearing hand-me-downs. She remembers praying to God to make her a girl. She came out to her parents at 13 when she told them she liked boys and wasn’t interested in dating girls. They were supportive but also encouraged her not to come out fully for safety reasons. In college she identified as genderqueer and was androgynous in her presentation. She stayed in Iowa for college at the University of Northern Iowa. Towards the end of college, she began to realize she was trans when she reflected on her childhood. Her parents and sister were all supportive of her transition. She’s been on hormones for two and a half years at the time of the interview, and she had laser hair removal done. She legally changed her name. At times, she’s gone without hormones and health care while in-between jobs. She worked for the Iowa Democratic Party as a field organizer. It was her first job that utilized her degree out of college. She is now the organizing director with Trans United, which is an advocacy start-up working to achieve trans equality and equity through building up the grass roots political power of trans communities and gender-expansive communities.

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