Is it better?

[Charlize]

As a child there was little or no mention of anything about the LGBTQ community.  Sometimes a comedian would get a laugh by pretending to be gay.  There were laws against "female impersonation."  When i thought about coming out to my first employer who happened to be a gay man(well hidden),  i overheard his conversation denigrating the impersonators.  I kept quiet.  Every small mention of gender differences caught my attention.  As perhaps most of us do i dressed alone, in a mixture of fear, joy and shame.  I manned up and worked tough jobs with tough men.  I also drank heavily, eventually becoming an alcoholic.  

Needless to say that is the past and i mention it here only to bring a bit of perspective to todays political issues.  There is a trans community!  We are accepted in much of the US and in many countries.  HRT, surgery and support are available quite often now.

Sure there is a "backlash" from a political party trying to garnish some power.  

Now the sun is shining here.  I am enjoying a cup of tea as the sheep eat their hay.  I am myself today with little fear, no shame and a great deal of loving acceptance.

For this trans gal it is certainly so much better!

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[Mmindy]

49 minutes ago, Charlize said:

 I am myself today with little fear, no shame and a great deal of loving acceptance.

For this trans gal it is certainly so much better!

I agree with you Charlize,

Good afternoon by the way.

 

Hugs,

 

Mindy🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋

[Maddee]

Being myself is less fear, less shame, and no sheep😂

 

It certainly is so much better Charlize!

[Jani]

Life is certainly good for me!

[Lelouch vi Ushiromiya]

On 2/3/2023 at 11:37 AM, Charlize said:

As a child there was little or no mention of anything about the LGBTQ community.  Sometimes a comedian would get a laugh by pretending to be gay.  There were laws against "female impersonation."  When i thought about coming out to my first employer who happened to be a gay man(well hidden),  i overheard his conversation denigrating the impersonators.  I kept quiet.  Every small mention of gender differences caught my attention.  As perhaps most of us do i dressed alone, in a mixture of fear, joy and shame.  I manned up and worked tough jobs with tough men.  I also drank heavily, eventually becoming an alcoholic.  

Needless to say that is the past and i mention it here only to bring a bit of perspective to todays political issues.  There is a trans community!  We are accepted in much of the US and in many countries.  HRT, surgery and support are available quite often now.

Sure there is a "backlash" from a political party trying to garnish some power.  

Now the sun is shining here.  I am enjoying a cup of tea as the sheep eat their hay.  I am myself today with little fear, no shame and a great deal of loving acceptance.

For this trans gal it is certainly so much better!

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

Reading this gives me hope. I grew up as the wrong gender (AFAB) and I remember feeling uneasy in my body, anxious, or just downright uncomfortable in any "girly" type clothes. It always felt like something wasn't right with me. I didn't have the freedom to finally realize who I actually was until I was in my mid to late 20's. Now that I'm 30, going on 31, I feel better living as my true self and I've gotten a little bit of peace on that front. It feels better to me to actually be seen for who I am instead of somebody that I never was. 

 

Thank you for sharing your journey and your story. I hope it inspires and touches the hearts of anybody else that happens to stumble upon it like I did. I need every bit of nugget of light I can get in this dark world right now. 

[Alexis MR]

It is better, indeed. We have recently been living a wave of trans hate here in Spain, but even so, things are way better that some decades ago. I'm 32 and I was never explained what trans people were until I found for myself at 16. So, yeah, I lived all my life thinking I was nuts and represing my feelings. Now teens know about the LGTB+ community a lot more. It's a good time for us, friends! =]

[Carolyn Marie]

Thanks for a lovely post, @Charlize.  I sometimes get all tied up in knots reading about the hate, and lose sight of the nice things that happen every day, every where I go. Thanks for the reminder that the pendulum has swung towards acceptance most every place, and it is only on occasion when it swings the other way.

 

HUGS

 

Carolyn Marie

[VickySGV]

Better??? I am not sure some times about that.  I do know things are clearer in my life for who and what I know myself to be. I can see better futures for many, but then I wonder a bit if it is my new view of the world and the goodness was always there waiting to be seen with clear mind and vision.  I do wonder, but I am happier and know how to see the goodness now that I was afraid of and thought was not good at all.  I would not trade the present for the past, no indeed.  To those who are miserable in their lives and jealous and meaner than for many years I feel a bit sorry, but do wish them the improvement in sight that I have won in the past few years, even they would like it better if they could see it.

[Betty K]

To me things seem so much better. In 1980, as a seven-year-old, I had no words to describe my identity. To have come out then would have been unthinkable: not only did the words not exist (certainly not in my neck of the woods) but I would not have trusted anyone enough to share them even if they had existed. By 1983, age 10, I had decided I could never reveal my secret to anybody, and I stuck to that resolve for almost 30 years.

 

Now, in 2023, I work as a disability support worker with LGBTQ clients, including two trans teenagers. I read widely about trans children. I am frankly astonished at how different many of their lives are to my life, at the supports they have, and -- despite the insanity in the press -- the widespread understanding I find among my friends and family when I discuss their cause. It breaks my heart that there is such a backlash, but I don't think the genie's going back in the bottle.

 

I am torn between regret that I couldn't live as these children are living and joy that they are doing so.

 

Just imagine how the world might change when these kids grow up. 💖