“My family began deteriorating. My parents separated. My mom went from a healthy, loving parent to an alcoholic who couldn’t care for herself. She disappeared, temporarily, and then forever. I accepted I would have to continue living in fear and shame.”
‘Please give me a miracle. Turn me into a girl overnight.’ I kept it a secret. I was on a train headed for a dead end.’: Transgender teen embraces identity after life-long battle, ‘I am finally me’
‘Will anyone love me after I transition?’ I knew all along who I was, I just didn’t know where I belonged in the world.’: Queer, non-binary, trans person comes to terms with identity, urges ‘you’re never alone’
“During the first appointment to assess my eligibility for hormones…I lied. A lot. I told elaborate tales about how I had ‘always dreamed of being a man.’ I worried I was a poor representation of the trans community. No one would suggest a woman who had a double mastectomy is no longer a woman because she lacks breasts.”
‘My manager interrupted. ‘Wait, what? You need to get that checked out.’ I’d lie and say I was ‘gay.’ It was easier to explain.’: Woman shares candid reality of being asexual, ‘I’m not broken’
“It all hit me in high school. ‘Why is everyone obsessed with sex?’ It had never occurred to me sex was a huge part of life. Couples would make out in the stairways. Sexually active friends would re-tell their experiences in detail. I was disgusted. My therapist would ask if I was ‘this way’ because of my parents, who didn’t have a good relationship when I was growing up. People think a person, especially a woman, need to have a partner to be happy.”
‘You’re going to be parents!’ Our son has 3 parents who love him. He gave him his name, I gave him biology, and his mom gave him life.’: Gay dads and boy’s mother parent together as Tri-Custody family, ‘the more love a child receives, the better’
“A photo of my son with a shirt saying, ‘I Love My Gay Dads’ got me 500 messages from people telling me, ‘You’re disgusting.’ On time at an event, a mother yelled at me. ‘Don’t do this in front of your son…or whatever he is…can you even have kids?!’ Here I was, a stay-at-home Papa, completely devoted to raising my child, having to prove I had a right to do so. No matter what, I will always be there for him. We honor our son.”
‘I’m so scared to be trans. I don’t want it to be true.’ I’d stare at myself and ask, ‘Who are you?’: Young man goes through coming out process, learns he’s transgender, ‘I finally feel free in my body’
“I was extremely scared to tell my mom. After I sent the text, I held my head over the toilet because I thought I’d puke. It was a whole day before my mom finally answered. My girlfriend texted her, ‘Please answer him, he needs your love and support.’ My mom did not like it and refused to call me her son. ‘You should dress more like a girl.’ I told her, ‘This doesn’t change who I am, this is who I’ve always been.’”
‘Those poor girls. Gays shouldn’t be able to have children. You are going to hell.’: Gay dad ‘hurt’ by attacks on social media, urges LGBT youth ‘Don’t give up. Life WILL get better.’
“I remember lying in bed at night as a little boy, begging God to not let me be gay. Every single night I’d end my prayers with, ‘God, please don’t let me have nightmares, and please don’t let me be gay.’ My dad would call me a sissy and say, ‘Don’t act like a queer.’ When I finally came out, I was so scared. Her reaction was so matter-of-fact. ‘It’s no big deal!'”
‘I was told to ‘man up’ after being thrown into a dumpster. I believed I was an abomination.’: Trans woman believed she’d ‘go to hell’ for transitioning, now feels ‘worthy of happiness’
“’Can you leave? We are having girl chat.’ I left and sat alone in the field. Teachers would laugh when I’d tell them I was being bullied. I cried and prayed to God, ‘Please let me wake up and be a girl.’ This is me. I am a woman.”
‘I’m ugly. Incredibly ugly. And I’m very proud of it.’: Agender individual learns to reclaim ‘every slur,’ finds acceptance in the LGBTQ community
“According to others, I’m undateable and unrapeable. I’m towheaded, gawky, fished-eyed. My hands and feet look like fins. I thought because everyone else hated me, I had to hate myself, too. I may not be the bee’s knees, but I grew up and found pride in ugliness.”
‘I knew it was over. He felt the weight of not being true to himself as gay. We were entering uncharted territory – co-parenting.’: Couple learns to co-parent peacefully
“I got off the phone devastated. Bawling. I felt like a failure. Losing a partnership like that, a friendship, felt like death. I began to picture all the holidays – separated as a family, and the awkward meet ups to switch the kids on our given days. I pictured being cold and disrespectful to other. It was the most painful things I could imagine.”
‘Someone at school told me you’re gay.’ I couldn’t keep this secret any longer. I poured my heart out to her. I thought I’d lost my friend. Until my phone pinged. ‘I like you, too.’
“We hid, for months. People started to suspect our relationship. We were pelted with rocks while waiting for the bus. We were spat on. Soon, her mom found out. They moved her 10 hours away. I barely had any contact with her. As the train arrived on the platform, she was waiting for me.”
