Raffi's struggle as a transgender woman

[Shana A]

Raffi's struggle as a transgender woman

Published: November 23, 2010 7:09 p.m.

http://www.metro.us/boston/local/article/693852--raffi-s-struggle-as-a-transgender-woman

Editor's Note: As part of a three-week series running on Wednesdays, Metro will post the stories of three transgender Bostonians and the struggles they've faced on their journey. Their lives are featured as part of a new public education campaign sponsored by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition originally featured in Metro on Nov. 16. In this week's second  installment, we hear from Raffi, a daughter, a Honduran native, a feminist, a Jew and a transgender woman.

Raffi: I identify myself as a feminine person, male bodied, but identifying as a woman. I came out to myself during high school, but it was hard for me to actually vocalize what those feelings I had were. I think I always had the notion that I was gender different, but it wasn't until I really got to college and I was living with men, and that was a new experience for me to be living in a gendered environment such as dorms. I realized I was just on the wrong floor of my dorm, I should have been housed with the women. So it was early on in college that I realized that I am transgender and needed to transition.