Trans Ottawa

This site was created in 2017 to record the history of trans people in Ottawa. As I expected this to be an ongoing project, with additions and amendments being added as new information became available, I decided to add material to the site which I thought might be of interest to trans people and their supporters.

I’ve added so much material since 2017 that the additions have evolved to become the heart of the website while Ottawa’s trans history has receded to become one part of it. Trans Ottawa is now a general interest transgender site which includes trans history, news, book reviews, commentary and stories about trans and gender diverse people. It’s not possible for me to cover all these things comprehensively, but there should be enough here to give the visitor a sense of what’s going on in the trans world.

As for my biography, my name is Tara Sypniewski. I was part of the nascent Ottawa trans community of the early to mid 80s, was a founding member of Gender Mosaic (GM) and its second president. I founded the GM newsletter Notes from the Underground and was editor and frequent contributor for four years. From 1998 to 2003, I published a ‘zine called Triple Echo, which incidentally was the original name of this web site.

(The name Triple Echo refers to a novella written by H. E. Bates. For more on the novella, and the movie made from the book, see Triple Echo.)

Trans Ottawa is still Ottawa based, however, and I welcome your story ideas or opinions. I’d also be pleased to publicize your event or business. This is not my vanity project, but rather an attempt to further the interests of the trans community in Ottawa. We’re stronger together.