Thank you so much for being the educator that will have a life long impact on your students. There are not enough of you. I’m 65 years old so my experience being transgender is quite different from you’re students of today . When I was a child there was no social awareness of our community. I didn’t even realize that there were others like me out there. Thought I was a freak of nature and to make mention of it would have probably been institutionalized.I am ambiguous about my feelings related to transgender youth today. On one hand I’m so happy that they will be spared the lifetime of anxiety and internal issues that people like myself had to endure. Often I felt that my only option was to seize to exist. On the other hand I’m quite proud of my life’s accomplishments which wouldn’t have occurred had I transitioned when I was young. I’m still with my wife of 40 years, have a loving relationship with my daughter, have 2 wonderful granddaughters and had a successful career. I feel I’ve completed my commitment to life’s expectations. Yes it was difficult and at times painful but what a loss it would have been to not have lived my life as I did. I feel I’ve now earned the right to be happy. I think that you should probably in a subtle way make your students aware of all of the wonderful things that the future might have in store for them.
Thanks again for your interest in our children’s future.
Tonya
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