Tag: Transgender

It was three days before Christmas when my twenty-year-old son came out to me as a transgender woman. I was in the bedroom wrapping a gift. He came in and stood against the wall across from me while I was trying to cut wrapping paper. Luckily, I don’t tend to be an overly reactive person, s...

Like other healthcare professionals, I’m trained to think about the worst-case scenario: What’s the most dangerous thing that could be going on with this person? We also have to think about who’s in front of us, and how likely a given problem is for people like them. The top concer...

Two years ago, I came out on the job as transgender. I had been there for five months and had exemplary reviews. Coming out was a leap that I needed to take. It was the last hurdle between my life and living a life where I presented as a transgender woman full-time. I lived openly on the weekends an...

The Williams School of Law Institute reports that over 1.4 million transgender individuals live in the United States alone, and as the laws for each state differ on policies that pertain to trans rights, employment, etc., there is an internal need for organizations and employees ...

Every day thousands of people are searching for any and every tidbit of information on gender dysphoria, from parents with gender-searching kids, family, relatives, and people who are living that experience. I’m a fully transitioned transgender woman who has been involved in LGBTQIA+ advocacy ...

As a long time transgender woman, I have seen my share of different labels coming and going over the years. The first one was the declining use of the word transvestite. I remember the days when there were very much only two labels you could use to describe yourself. If you cross dressed in the c...

Spoiler alert for big plot reveal in the next paragraph, for a movie over 20 years old (and a worldwide sensation following its release). You have been warned. My duty is fulfilled. I saw the movie “The Sixth Sense” in the theater. After the reveal at the end that Bruce Willis’ ...

I wrote the Gender Dysphoria Baseball Bat six months ago. I have gone out with my friend a few more times since then. Each time I looked at the photos she took of me, I had the same reaction: “Proof I don’t pass.” In the photos, I continued to see a guy in a wig, which depres...

My hands dig deep in the blue-and-black striped cotton basket with the smiling snail on it. The boy next to me just fished out a cowboy head, and the girl from next door is trying on the wings of a fairy costume. I’m looking for something very specific. I know it’s in there, but my tiny ...

When you’re transgender and you finally feel comfortable enough to tell the whole world you are transgender, you get asked a lot of questions. Below is a list of my all-time favorites: - How did you know you are transgender? - Are you sure you’re transgender…you never played...

Every day thousands of people are searching for any and every tidbit of information on gender dysphoria, from parents with gender-searching kids, family, relatives, and people who are living that experience. I’m a fully transitioned transgender woman who has been involved in LGBTQIA+ advocacy ...

Ohio House Republicans have overridden a veto of amended House Bill 68 by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, as reported by the Columbus Dispatch. House Bill 68 would restrict medical care for transgender minors and block transgender girls from female sports. This bill, pushed through on a purely pa...

It was a simple trip back to my hometown to visit my siblings over a summer weekend for what has affectionately become Millsapalooza! Once a year, we travel to our childhood home to catch up on what is happening in each of our lives. I live farthest away, traveling close to 9 hours to get ...

He spent his childhood traveling the world with his mother and brother. Michael believed staying in one geographic location too long was a major letdown. He swore he’d never marry because he fantasized a life full of worldwide travels. Michael lived to discover new adventures. We bumped ...

Gender-critical people often feel compelled to emphasize the biology transgender people were born with. Many act like they are imparting some profound insight to us, hoping we’ll have an epiphany and see the error in our ways. It’s as if they think that by reminding us of ...

Being transgender means that one’s gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth. This journey of self-discovery and affirmation is deeply personal and varies greatly from one individual to another. It’s a journey that not only involves the person but also the society&rsqu...

Since my child came out as a transgender woman (read more about that here), I have found that my emotional stumbling blocks haven’t come all at once. They have played out over time, revealing themselves like terrain on a newly explored map. I’m lucky to be married to my best friend. B...

It starts with bravery. You know… feeling the resident fear of something deeply and doing it anyway. Life whizzes by, window by window, stranger by stranger, friend by friend. Some stops are yours, and some aren’t. I’m not the only one here. Painfully aware of that. People fill...

The Brick excellently countered. “When you ask any of the women in your life for their professional opinion whether you pass or not, every time, every time, they look at you as if you are crazy and tell you, “Of course you do!” Not to be outdone, I resorted to emotionally j...

It’s accurate that others are their own creation. But they’re also a co-creation. We all participate in each others’ becoming. And, as I’ve stressed before, the people we experience aren’t the same people those people are. Instead, they’re our ...

Perhaps I should lead this post off with medical care as referring to myself as a “pre-opt” transgender woman. Since I have never had any of the gender affirming surgeries so appealing to more and more trans women, when I go to the hospital for any sort of a procedure I face the reality ...

First and foremost, Transgender Identities are not a trend. We have been around for a long time and have received more awareness in the past decade. With more stories now that feature an authentic representation of LGBT people, it’s a perfect opportunity to observe in a more empathic...

As a result of the fervent advocacy seen over the years regarding LGBTQIA+ rights and awareness, we have identified and accepted that gender is a social construct, that gender norms are learned and aren’t necessarily linked to sex (sexual genitalia,) and that people are free to identify with t...

I have been working for the Regina Public School Board in Saskatchewan, Canada since December 2015. I often say this is the best job I’ve ever had. These are the best co-workers I’ve ever had and the best management I’ve ever had. A big part of what makes this job so great is th...

There is perhaps no aspect of gender-affirming care that garners more attention than the use of puberty blockers. They are described as ‘experimental’ and ‘controversial’ by those opposed to their use. They’ve been banned in several U.S. states, and their use&nbsp...

The English term, Two-Spirit, attempts to incorporate and honor the word in hundreds of native languages for a person whose persona projects both masculine and feminine spirits. The identity of “Two-Spirit” denotes individuals who have traditional traits such as name givers, ceremon...

It starts with bravery. You know… feeling the resident fear of something deeply and doing it anyway. Life whizzes by, window by window, stranger by stranger, friend by friend. Some stops are yours, and some aren’t. I’m not the only one here. Painfully aware of that. People fill...

“This bill, if enacted, will be the cause of MANY deaths and suicides,” professed a concerned Ohio citizen, Julian Jaffe, in front of the Ohio Senate’s Government Oversight Committee then-deliberating Ohio’s House Bill 68. Jaffe continued, “it goes against all human emp...

Every day thousands of people are searching for any and every tidbit of information on gender dysphoria, from parents with gender-searching kids, family, relatives, and people who are living that experience. I’m a fully transitioned transgender woman who has been involved in LGBTQIA+ advocacy ...

Following years of living a huge lie, I decided to live my gender truth. All along, I should have never been a male and felt so natural and alive when I was being feminine. As with any lie, you need to be more and more skillful to keep the ball rolling and not be discovered. The process all start...