Interviewed by
Sabine Bader, Pöcking
It is one of the last beautiful late autumn days in the Starnberg Castle Gardens. The temperatures are around 20 degrees. It is quiet behind the castle walls high above the city, you can count the visitors to the small park between Josephskirche and the castle on one hand. An ideal place to talk. Melina Budde appears in the gate opening of the castle wall. She is wearing a white blouse and black pleated pants. Her face is carefully and discreetly made up. She wears several silver rings on her hands. Melina Budde was born a boy. Today the 24-year-old is a woman. She speaks calmly and clearly, her voice is dark. She has decided to talk about an essential part of her life, to make it public. An unusual decision. But she wants to show other people who feel the same as she does, who are going through similar things, that they are not alone and that their lives can still be happy and fulfilling.