This is the kinda shit people are talking about when they say "Trans right are human rights".

Trans people are our friends, our neighbors, our brothers and sisters. They have their own hopes, dreams, and fears, and at a bare minimum, deserve to be treated with kindness, dignity, and respect. The same way every human deserves.

Each person is an individual and should be seen and valued as such.

When I changed my middle name to Ashley, and started using that sometimes in some situations (like how explaining how to say my first name would take too much time), I got such a good feeling, and it still persists a decade later.

When my partner "came out" to me, they didn't really do much of anything to follow through and begin making changes. I think because there's so much to do and no guide to do it.

So one day we were at a loose end I said "let's just goto the hair dresser and you can ask them for an appropriate haircut"

And so our very lovely hairdresser became the 2nd person to learn their real name and did a fantastic job sorting out an appropriate hairstyle. Something that is still important to my partner now.

From being the first person they told about their transition IRL, to all the little times I've nudged and supported them taking the next step, it's been a joy and privilege to do that. I feel blessed by their trust and by being close to such beautiful change towards authenticity.

It's incredible how valuable having self identity is. Just being who you are, who you are comfortable being, and being accepted for being that person, regardless of who you are or what you present as.

I always struggle with people who don't recognise people by their chosen names, or by their chosen genders. Just because someone with the genetic features of a male wants to be called "she/her", doesn't invalidate who you are as a male (he/him) or female (she/her) or whatever you want to call yourself. What purpose does it serve to deny people the same rights and freedoms that everyone else has, simply because they've made different choices than you?

That kind of bigotry should be stamped out as forcefully and as swiftly as the Nazis were. This is just a watered down version of the same bigotry and it should not be tolerated.

Stories like this should be commonplace.

Let's all just.... Get along.

And that's coming from me. A cis male, and supporter of all things LGBTQIA+

All the colors of the rainbow are beautiful. Be who you want to be. Much love for you all from Canada.

I can absolutely recommend doing stuff like this. Being trans is fucking hard. It means that you have to change a whole fuck load of stuff about yourself and every single step is hard and quite frightening. Having people who support you massively helps. And if its just people you can go out with while wearing your preferred clothes, because going out while being dressed fem, while still looking like a guy is fucking frightening. Having someone to distract you with helps massively.

This will never be me. And I wake up every day wanting to end it. Because I am incapable of the social labor necessary for a friendship.

Edit: Okay so in insight, this is very depressing even for me. This post as a big impact on me.

This sort of thing can give so much confidence to a trans person who needs it. I needed it for a long time. I still need it. I haven't socially transitioned yet, but I've taken a lot of steps to do so. I have a mental checklist of people who are going to accept me and who are not, because I'm scared of losing all my relationships. Every single relationship that I can be confident in drops my stress level. Every step that somebody can bring me into is one less step that I have to face alone. Gender transition is one of the most difficult things that people do socially. It's not necessarily for the faint of heart, but oftentimes that's exactly who has to do it. I struggle with being who I want to be and being confident in that basically everyday.