Transgender group seeks support
By Erin Whittle
Published: Wednesday, September 8, 2010
http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/transgender-group-seeks-support-1.1572560The first time Bree Sutherland talked to a therapist, it changed her life.
In 2008, Sutherland, a transgender woman, was living as a man and trying to ignore her feelings. "At the time, I knew I was a girl, I knew the way I felt, but I didn't want to accept it," she said. "I decided to go to a therapist to have her tell me I'm not trans." She made an appointment with a trans woman therapist in Missoula.
Sutherland walked out of that first session an hour an a half later with "a million pounds let off [her] chest."
Since then, she's become a trans activist and started sponsoring her own Missoula transgender support group, which is just part of the resource network for Montanans struggling with identity issues. "There's roughly 750 transgender individuals in the city, as of last year," said Sutherland. She estimates that about 150 trans individuals are on campus.
