“There are days I’m so tired and weak I can’t help but cry. I carry a lot of weight for my kid, in support of who he is now. ‘We have something super awkward to talk about.’ ‘Okay, what is it?’ ‘I know you’re in middle school now. Sometimes sex is a thing with kids that age. But I’m worried about it, and want you to wait. I don’t want you to experience sex for the first time as the wrong gender and have it hurt you.’ He’s dealing with a lot. Much more than I ever did as a 12-year-old.”
‘Dad can I have 3 dollars?’ My friend needs a chest binder and his parents aren’t supportive.’ My son came out as Trans at 11.’: Father embraces transgender son’s new boyfriend, lifestyle, ‘our job is to love the kids we are given’
‘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’ve read your letter. Don’t worry, we’ll get through this.’ It actually meant, we’ll try to ‘fix’ you.’: Young trans man finds ‘strength’ and ‘identity’ while transitioning from female to male
“‘I am upset I won’t be able to walk my daughter down the aisle like I’d always hoped.’ They asked, ‘Why can’t you just be a butch lesbian?’ My great grandmother’s response when I walked in was, ‘Oh isn’t he handsome!’ All she wanted was to make sure I was happy. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me.”
‘I was given a choice. ‘Be yourself or be a teacher. You can’t do both.’ I’d been outed by my coworker.’: Transgender teacher ‘stays positive’ despite criticism, says transition ‘doesn’t change who I am’
“I approached the school in a new dress I was so happy about. I felt strong, confident, and absolutely terrified. I made my way to the library for a meeting. All the tables filled, yet no one joined me at mine. Teachers gathered to decide where to go for lunch. I asked if I could join. ‘We’d rather you didn’t.’ Broken, I returned to my classroom, closed the door, and cried.”
‘Please, when I wake up, change me into a boy.’ I’d make deals with God and wake up excited. Nothing changed.’: Transgender man finally ‘at peace,’ loves who he sees ‘looking back in the mirror’
“Growing up, there was this football field behind my house. I’d go there and lie down in the middle of the it, looking up at the sky and begging God to strike me with a lightning bolt. And just change me. Change my body. Every day I did this, and woke up sobbing. I didn’t have a word for how I felt. I knew I was attracted to women. But I also knew I felt like a boy trapped in a girl’s body.”
‘I know you’re a boy,’ she whispered, kissing my forehead. I’d be able to start my senior year comfortable with myself.’: High school senior comes out as ‘transgender’ and begins transition
“My eyes widened. I hid who I was and planned to never tell a soul. I quietly started my visits at a clinic in Boston, and I was prescribed testosterone during the summer. This was a huge moment for me! This led to a scary leap. I had to publicly come out as transgender to my peers.”
‘I remember one day looking at her and secretly wishing I was born a girl. When I saw myself in the mirror with a wig and nails painted I wanted to cry, it felt so ‘right’.’
“I became closer to accepting myself. That was until the night I found out I would be having a child. That moment I realized my life was no longer my own.”
‘I’ve never been with anyone with this lifestyle nor have I have been with a girl, but now that I’ve gotten to know him, I don’t want it any other way. He is the love of my life.’
“I didn’t think someone like her would be willing to love someone like me. But I was wrong.”
‘My child is transgender. But she is not the one who changed – I am.’
“Matthew became Madison only months before she started kindergarten. I am still grieving my son. Matty always wanted things that were pink and sparkled. He loved his cousin’s headbands and dress up clothes.”
‘The most frightening yet liberating moments I’ve experienced’: Transgender teen on her community’s acceptance during transition
“I never realized how much weight I was holding by keeping my identity a secret. Letting go of that weight made me feel like, for the first time, that I could breathe easy.”
