Allie n Steve Investigates Family and Gender Fluidity with NPR's Invisibilia

Allie n Steve Mullen, adjunct assistant professor in SAIC’s Art and Technology Studies and Liberal Arts departments, was featured on NPR’s Invisibilia, a show about the invisible forces that shape our ideas, beliefs, and assumptions. In the segment, host Lulu Miller introduces Allie n Steve, who is one person with a fluid gender identity; they may be Allie one day and Steve the next. While Allie n Steve has been able to live comfortably in their wider community, the episode tells the story of their daughters’ struggle to accept their father’s gender identity and the loving relationship that unites them as family. Allie n Steve and their daughters actively work to develop and maintain their bond. Allie n Steve says, “For reasons having nothing to do with my gender, they need me to remain a fixed point in their life. And as long as they need me to remain that fixed point for them, I'm going to be that for them because I'm their dad.”

The show’s website concludes, “Allie n Steve has lessons to teach us about the beauty of not retreating to black and white.”

Allie n Steve and their daughter also shared their story on the StoryCorps podcast.