Abigail
I could not find better words to better express my exact feelings.
Rami
I love myself transitioning. Its natural to me and I feel its the right thing.I know iam a good healthy person.
I am 3 years into HRT and have been living as female gender for 2 years, but I consider and refer to myself as transgender and always will, even after having bottom surgery (hopefully, some day). This is my own personal feeling and not a judgement on anyone else, but I feel in my case that I love and respect women too much to try to claim that I am just like them. I grew up as a male, so I don't know what it's like to grow up female, have never had to deal with menstruation or the possibility of getting pregnant, etc.
That being said, I am proud to call myself transgender and am not afraid to proclaim it or talk about it with anyone. I must add that in my case it's hard to do otherwise because I'm 6'4", broad shouldered, with big feet and a deep voice, so I stand out at a distance as trans, rather than cis gendered. This fact prevented me from summoning up the courage to transition until fairly late in life, but now that I have made that decision I know that it is the best decision I ever made. So, I can't ever "pass"--okay, I have long since made my peace with that. I don't give a damn what other people may think of me. I do my best to look as feminine as I can whenever I walk out my door--clothes, hair, make up, jewelry, etc. , and actually get a surprising amount of compliments, although almost exclusively from women. Many guys seem to be rather uncomfortable around me, but despite living in a very rural and fairly conservative area, no one has ever hassled me. The only time I've ever been insulted to my face in the 2 years since I came out was in liberal Portland, Oregon--go figure!
Well done Erica. You be who you are. Stand tall be strong. I just getting started. This morning my sister confessed she had told the rest of the family about me being transgender. ftm. She wasn't to say anything, until I was ready to tell them my self. But she did. To my surprise they are ok with it. And will be supportive, and love me no matter what. She said its ok to talk to them about it, not to be afraid. So I am feeling better about contacting the rest of my family. But I will do it my way, one at a time, as to not overwhelm my self with to much at a time. My sister wants to be there for me when I go for surgeries. We will take it one step at a time, She is afraid of flying so I don't know if she will go with me when the time comes. But that's not happening anytime soon. I told her I forgive her for what she did, and family is for ever. I come from a big family a total of 8 siblings 7 still living. And I love them all.
At 62 I have too much history, my beautiful children and wife and so many good memories to ever want to forget who I was. As has been said below, I can't change the past, so why deny it to those who ask. I want to move forward as the person I want to be, but I love my family and I would never deny our history together.
Long story short,,,, for (Me)- I am (both) !!! When I feel like I want to be Kara I go out dressed up as,, Kara &,,,, I like/enjoy it & in male mode,,,, I like being male also,,, Peace +++
Typically I say that I identify as transgender and non-binary. I rarely use the term trans woman as I feel it isn’t specific enough for me. It may be for others, but that isn’t my concern.
I lived 66 years as Don and nearly 6 as DeeAnn. For me it would be silly to pretend that those 66 years did not exist. I can’t see circumstances that would force me to change my mind...
I am an older trans female and even though I have a male size body I can pass as female when dressed and with makeup on. So to the casual observer I am female. Due to work constraints I have not done my gender marker change yet and so when I have to present my identification it becomes an obvious subject and I have to explain. I look nothing like my driver's license photo. But if a person I meet does not know my former life then I am not going to tell them I lived in a male body. I will only tell someone that needed to know.
Would I tell a potential date? Yes I would if I had not physically transitioned. I think that a lot of the young trans girls that get hurt when dating did not reveal this information when they started and the guy became angry and enraged when they found out.