Another Step on the Trans Path
When the Universe makes a decision, she won’t take no for an answer.
I came to that conclusion this past week when yet another obstacle in the path to my transition melted away. I thought I was going to have to wait until April to begin hormone replacement therapy. But my therapist advocated for me, which led to an appointment with a family nurse practitioner who will get me started on HRT in the coming week.
I am continually amazed and grateful at how this is unfolding.
I realize I am transitioning from a position of privilege. I have the resources and the goodwill to open the doors that have been shut and locked for fifty years, and I never want to take any of this for granted. I know it still won’t be easy.
I had a good reality check from a woman four years into her transition this past week, a lunch arranged by a mutual friend. “Joan” (not her real name) said her first couple of years were amazingly smooth as well. Then, as she became outwardly more feminine, some friends began to drift away. She started noticing micro-aggressions more and more often.
She went to a professional conference for women in her field. She mixed easily the first day, but when she presented on the second day, she came out as trans, and while many were warm and accepting, others were not. They apparently felt deceived. There’s no doubt in my mind this was a subtler form of the attitudes that lead to violence against trans women.
As for my own journey: I continue to disclose to a small, but growing circle of people before my big reveal, which I now have targeted for the first Monday in June.
Perhaps the best part of this journey so far has been my opportunity to bolster the spirits of some female friends who are dealing with tough times right now. I’ve been blessed with a few close male friends in my life, but by far, my deepest emotional connections have been with women. I find them to be smart, strong and loving; now that I’m joining their tribe, it feels like those relationships have achieved an added layer of richness and depth.
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Category: Transgender Body & Soul
About the Author (Author Profile)
Claire Hall was born and grew up in a large city on the left coast and has spent most of her adult years in a beautiful small coastal community where she's now an elected official in local government after spending many years as a newspaper and radio reporter. In her space time she loves reading, writing fiction (her first novel was published by a regional press a couple of years ago), watching classic Hollywood movies, and walking.Subscribe
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