By Skyla Thornton
“Being able to leave your day-to-day worries on land while exploring a landscape as strange and beautiful as a kelp forest or coral reef is a peace that’s difficult to put into words,” says Cal Gafner, qualified scuba diving instructor and third-year Applied Medicinal Chemistry student at Stellenbosch University. He came out as transgender in 2021, and continues to redefine the gender norms of the diving industry. Gafner is an ocean enthusiast, and shares his love for the underwater world by teaching people how to scuba dive in and along the Cape Coast.
To offer some explanation and insight to the world of scuba; diving qualifications take place in steps. One starts off with an Open Water certification – which Gafner completed at twelve years old – followed by an Advanced Open Water certification, then Dive Master, and eventually Instructor. The process can take a few years to build up the number of dives required for certain courses.
Gafner is revered among the local diving community, and his colleagues hold him in high regard. “Cal is our Head of Scuba and oversees our courses and crew and makes sure we are training and getting people into the water,” says Bianca Mairs, Chairperson of Maties Underwater Club (MUC). “Cal is an amazing instructor and a very patient teacher. He shows respect for each of his students and wants to share the amazing experience that is scuba diving. Cal is the lifeline of MUC and we simply wouldn’t function the same without him.”
“Cal is caring and conscientious, and a total nudibranch nerd,” says Katie Watson, a fellow scuba diver. Nudibranches are more commonly known as a type of sea slug, a vibrant group of shell-less marine molluscs that can have fluorescent colouration and patterns.
“If I had to, I’d compare Cal to a nudibranch, not something you see every day but you should count yourself lucky to get the chance to see and interact with on a dive,” says Mairs.
Kira Courtaillac, former MUC Chairperson calls Gafner a “role model of industry standards” and shares that he has “created a space for scuba to become more streamlined and back on track after the pandemic set the club back in terms of member involvement.”
“He works incredibly hard and never complains about his workload, even though it is intense keeping a professional dive club’s scuba logistics on track as a student and working instructor,” says Courtaillac.
“Cal is one of the most dedicated dive instructors I have met, he works incredibly hard to ensure trainees are confident in the water, whilst also instilling a sense of stewardship,” echoed Watson.
The road to becoming an esteemed Instructor has not been without a few bumps. Gafner shares the contrasts of his experience of gender stereotypes within the diving industry.
“Women are treated as more fragile and less capable than their male counterparts, expected to act as ornamentation in a men’s field. Women have to deal with rampant sexual harassment and ideals better suited to being left in the past,” says Gafner.
“Once I started being [seen] as a man consistently, people started taking my input more seriously, I was interrupted less, and I was generally treated as more important than I was previously. I have understood the concept of patriarchy and seen male privilege from the experience of not having it, but the shift in treatment I experienced is unsettling to say the least.”
Coming out as transgender completely changed his life according to Gafner. “It has been just over two years now and it’s made an incredible difference to my mental health, sociability and general happiness.”
“The best way I can describe my life before coming out is that I was a man who didn’t know he was a man pretending to be a woman because that’s what he was told he should do… now I finally feel like myself,” says Gafner.
“One thing that’s rarely talked about with gender dysphoria is the experience of depersonalisation that comes with it – my body didn’t feel like it was mine, it was this separate entity I had to move around, feed, water and wash, not me. I’d see flashes of him when my hair was tied a certain way or the light caught my jaw at certain angles, but it took about a year and a half for me to consistently feel like my body was my own. It’s an odd feeling finally recognising the person you see in the mirror as yourself after years of seeing a stranger.”
The diving industry is a community like any other and can therefore fall into similar patterns of discrimination. As Gafner explains, “most cases of queerphobia I have experienced and witnessed in the diving community have been as a result of lack of education and exposure to openly LGBTQIA+ people.” This has resulted in uncomfortable scenarios with disrespectful students, and uncomfortable interactions with conservative divers.
The responsibility is on dive centres, and various entities, institutions and individuals to create a space where people who belong to the LGBTQIA+ community feel free to be themselves. All it takes is allowing for a wholesome and welcoming environment to exist, where people are focussed more on their shared love for the ocean, and common sense of curiosity and need to explore.
“I met Cal after his transition, and wasn’t aware he was transgender until he felt comfortable enough to open up the conversation with me. Since then, I’ve learned so much about the community and gained insight into what the transition is like. I have gained a more intimate respect for the transgender community because he helped me become fully aware of the challenges that he and others have had to face and overcome. He is an incredibly strong individual who deserves all the support and respect in the world,” says Courtaillac.
Gafner is not alone in his experience, and invites open-mindedness. “There are a lot more of us than most people think. We’re your friends, your neighbors and your family members. You can either live in fear of us or get to know us for who we are, and once you do you’ll wonder what it was you were even scared of in the first place” says Gafner.
The best thing that one can do as an individual to be more inclusive, is to educate through research and listening to the narratives of the lived experiences of the transgender community. Gafner recommends genderdysphoria.fyi as “a document detailing the experience of gender dysphoria, what it’s like realizing you’re trans, and the things HRT (hormone replacement treatment) will or won’t change.” He also recommends Always Anastacia by Dr Anastacia Tomson and Becoming Him by Landa Mabenge, as memoirs that explore the experience of transition in a South African context.
Cal Gafner has overcome challenges of gender identity, and has gained respect through professionalism and excellence. He embodies his passion for scuba diving by continuing to teach others and introduce them to the world beneath the surface.
Sources
- Cal Gafner
- Bianca Mairs, Maties Underwater Club Chairperson & 3rd year Biodiversity and Ecology student
- Kira Courtaillac, former Maties Underwater Club Chairperson & MSc Zoology
- Katie Watson, Maties Underwater Club diver & 4th year PhD candidate
