rural towns and transition, what are your stories

[megan7777]

so i live outside a BIG city in a small rural town and I live here because the air is clean, I can see the stars at night, and driving into town to work takes the same amount of time as it would if I lived in town and traversed traffic lights. (highway is fast). 

To share more about the town, this town has a few old families that have lived here for ever, and the community in general isn't that large. News and gossip travels fast. 

Anyone live in this situation, how did you handle coming out? did you? or did you just move, due to it not being possible in this situation.  for my case, my plan is to move... but I can't right away, its impossible, so I plan to live a dual life, male in public, female at home and when I drive into the city from time to time.

Whats your rural experience?

[Alexis2107]

I live in a small town 'sundown' town, that's known for its KKK uproots and such.  I haven't had any problems with transitioning, but of course I don't have neighbors and generally I go into a bigger town for my shopping as there's not much here.  The government services, such as social security, DMV, and court staff all have been friendly and have not been judgmental or rude.

[ainsley]

I don't live in a town.  The closest town for me is technically a Village with a population of 136.  That is 3 miles away.  7 miles to the north is a town of 12,000.  I find most of them to be fine with me.  The ones that tend to ogle, stare, curl a lip or are just rude are the ones that come into town from the surrounding area.  So, basically my neighbors. lol  I have one house in sight from mine.  I am surrounded by corn, soybean, and other crop fileds, so I don't really associate with my neighbors and when I do I am usually just myself.  My backyard in 2009:

I work in a city 30 miles south that has about 115,000 people in it and they are a mostly progressive group that tend to be completely accepting.

I wanted to move when I first came out, but I have just learned to live with the h8 in certain areas (and avoid them) and have learned to spend my time in places where people are not ignorant.  My wife and daughter are pro-trans* warriors and will confront anyone outright that is rude toward me.  We travel in a pack.  lol

[cindianna_jones]

I live in the most tea party county in California. Fortunately, I was well beyond that stage in my life before I moved here. It is a 45 minute drive to the nearest traffic light and 12.5 miles into a town of just 1700 people and 12,000 churches.

Oddly enough, there is a very active population of gay people. I hear the bacco chewers and gun toters make a comment on them from time to time, but they are left in peace as far as I know.

[ainsley]

Haha!  "1700 peeps and 12000 churches."

Heck of a ratio.

[Sapphire87]

I lived in a small town for most of my life, and I didn't end up transitionin until after I left to live in a city 2 hours away. My family is very large and well known in the town and well, new travels fast so i never felt very comfortable transitioning there. However that being said, almost everybody in that town knows i have transitioned and I still go back there to visit my family all the time. I've had no issues while i'm there and everything seems fine. The only Upside to me transitioning in the City seems to have been the ease of actually getting hormones and what not. There's someone I know trying to transition in the same town I'm from and I don't think has even gotten hormones yet even though started 1 year before I had. Although there may be underlying issues as well that are preventing them.

[cindianna_jones]

Haha!  "1700 peeps and 12000 churches."

Heck of a ratio.

You know I jest on the church count. I think ther are thirty or so. Pretty high number for such a small town.

[mmmmm]

I live in a rural village with about 300 people (maybe less, maybe more idk...). I didn't have any kind of problems during transition... few friends I have here were supportive and happy for me, other than them I never really knew a lot of people, other than couple of nearest neighbours (who were also supportive and kind). Other than that, I doubt anyone else would even recognize me. There were talks in the past, but as people wouldn't even know me, other than what family I'm from, it wasn't really that much interesting. And I also don't give a f*** what some people I don't know, tell some other people I don't know about me.
I definitely don't plan to stay and live here all my life, but that's because of many other reasons...

[chefskenzie]

My hometown found out when I went on Jerry Springer.  Didn't hear from my family anymore after that, and everyone in my hometown knew, and knew quickly.

I was treated ok, but it was scary because I got a lot of looks and hate.

I eventually moved, nobody knew me, and nobody cared.  I was just one of the ladies!

[big kim]

I transitioned in Thornton Lancashire(think Royston Vasey from the League of Gentlemen crossed with the town from the Wicker Man).People still pointed at aeroplanes but the novelty of me wore off after a couple of years.I think I stayed longer than intended as it was my way of sticking 2 fingers up at them.There was some minor vandalism to my car which was a POS 17 year old Ford that cost £300 so I wasn't to bothered

[JoanneB]

I wouldn't call that "rural". Sounds like a typical Jersey burb town, 45 min to an hour from NYC. No privacy. People know everyone elses business. Plenty of gossip and rumors. Just like many burbs I lived in. Not at all like a for real rural (as in hillbilly) area where I had spent 5 years in.

I felt safer in West Virginia