I didn't have the language for it, but I knew something was wrong with me and the way I felt in my body and in society as soon as I was six or seven years old. Had I been given the right language to express it back then, I would have known right away, but I guess it wouldn't have been better because, well, there's nothing I would have been able to do about it. I didn't know I was a girl. I just knew I desperately wanted to be one. But I could never say that to anyone.

Still, though, I consider myself a trans kid nonetheless, just because I came out later, in my adult life, doesn't mean that I wasn't. I pretty much knew what I was, there was just no tolerance nor space for me to be it. And, uh, honestly? I deserved better. Much better. Instead, I'll be spending the rest of my life dealing with the consequences of all of this...

Thank you so much for posting this. I wish that families were better and didn’t force gender norms. But I’ve found comfort in chosen family that helped me while I came out and they still help me.

I was a trans kid who didn't have much of a concept of gender identity until society smacked me in the face with it and essentially made everything revolve around it. I came out as an established adult with a family and career and still lost half my biological family to bigotry, while they cursed me with one hand and blamed me for tearing the family apart.

My heart goes out to the kids who know, feel it in their bones, and have no choice but to watch as their body becomes less comfortable.