National Student Pride has launched Season 2 of The Outtakes, with a brand-new episode diving into school experiences, trans identity and some Red Carpet Glam with trans activist Charlie Craggs, and presented by podcast host, Ben Court.
Charlie Craggs will be bringing her charm and sass as she hosts the mainstage of National Student Pride alongside Tia Kofi next weekend. Tickets are available here.
In the episode, Charlie speaks about feeling like a victim as a child and the bullying she received at school. She was quickly labelled by her peers as gay aged 7, before she knew “what gay meant”. After becoming more confident in her transness and identity, Charlie Craggs’ mantra “has become bully the bully”, going on to say “I’m not trying to make a board room full of straight white men like me, I’m trying to make the gays like me”.
Discussing Charlie’s access points into queer culture, Ben Court and Charlie Craggs reference Nadia Almada, the fifth season winner of Big Brother, discussing how she gave Charlie “a word for how I feel”. The pair compare this to the online discourse around Hallie, a vocal trans contestant on the latest series of Big Brother; “she’s an 18-year-old and there’s grown adults on Twitter (X) laying into her”.
The launching episode of season two of The Outtakes discusses the current perception of trans people: “It feels like all we ever exist for is to debate [with] people and to prove to Piers Morgan that we are worthy of human rights”, Charlie comments on how out of proportion these arguments are, she is a human with bigger problems. Adding a humorous touch to the debate on trans women and sports she jests “how many trans women are playing sports with these big tits, it’s really out of proportion.”
Talking about her student experience and studying at Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, Charlie shares “I was very avant-garde… I lost my flair, I’m only just coming back to it”. Discussing her Glamour outfit, when she rocked the red carpet wearing a t-shirt with the slogan ‘Transphobia will never be glamour’, “I wore that just after Rishi Sunak said ‘a man is a man and a woman is a woman’ even Deborah Joseph championed me”.
2024 continues to be an iconic era for Charlie Craggs, “I’m gonna give the gays what they want – I’m determined to solidify myself as a gay icon”. Looking ahead to the year, Craggs will be hosting the mainstage of National Student Pride with Tia Kofi, starting a podcast, writing another book, and exploring more acting opportunities. Charlie’s Self Defence Angels, referenced in the podcast and taught by Cairo Nevitt, launches at the end of the month, providing self-defence classes to the trans community.
National Student Pride is the UK’s biggest LGBTQ+ student event, made for students, run by students. Student Pride returns to London between 23-25 February 2024 to bring together 2,000+ attendees for a whole weekend of parties, panels, an LGBTQ+ careers fair, and so much more.
Free daytime tickets, £10 weekend wristbands and Sunday Drag Brunch bolt-on tickets are available HERE