Interview with Jake Wanamaker | Ep #34

Interview with Jake Wanamaker | Ep #34

Author: Rick Koonce August 4, 2023 Duration: 39:52

Assigned female at birth, Jake Wanamaker is a 2023 graduate of Nauset High School on Cape Cod who today identifies as a Transman. For Jake, the awareness that he was born into a body of the wrong-gender for him came early, when he was only a few years old. But he didn't have the knowledge or vocabulary with which to understand the feelings and emotions deep within him.


So, he went online, at an early age, to learn more about the Transgender world and later found help from both a sensitive guidance counselor and a gifted therapist – who helped him better understand and claim his true gender identity.


In this intimate and revealing interview with PFLAG Cape Cod's Rick Koonce, which took place just weeks before his scheduled top surgery in July of 2023, Jake talks about the struggles he endured as a child and adolescent, trying to come to terms with who he is.


He reveals the challenges he faced coming out to his parents, and how, with the help of friends, supportive and caring teachers, and healthcare professionals he began to fully embrace his gender identity.


Jake also talks about the enthusiasm he feels today for the future… his excitement about attending college in the fall… and his desire to pursue a career as a scientific illustrator, combining his deep interests in both art and nature.


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For more information, visit the PFLAG Cape Cod website: https://www.pflagcapecod.org/podcasts.html


© 2020 - 2023 PFLAG Cape Cod


Hosted by Rick Koonce, Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage: Real Stories of Identity & Acceptance is built around intimate, unscripted conversations that go beyond headlines. This podcast lives in the personal moments-the difficult family dinner, the quiet realization, the supportive friend’s first question. You’ll hear directly from LGBTQ+ individuals, their parents, siblings, and allies, sharing narratives that are less about grand declarations and more about the daily, nuanced journey toward living authentically. The stories encompass coming out, gender transition, and the complex, ongoing search for belonging, offering a raw and moving look at what courage actually sounds like in real time. Produced by Huntington Northstar Productions in partnership with PFLAG Cape Cod, each episode functions as a personal audio journal, focusing on a single portrait where vulnerability and strength are inseparable. Listening feels like being invited into a deeply meaningful, private conversation that highlights our shared humanity. The collective result is a powerful and necessary tapestry of voices that celebrates resilience while honestly examining the challenges within families and communities. Tune in for a series that connects through specificity, where every story adds a vital thread to the broader fabric of human experience.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage: Real Stories of Identity & Acceptance
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