Ask Matt Monday: Small-Town Transgender Blues
May 23, 2011 by Matt Kailey
http://tranifesto.com/2011/05/23/ask-matt-monday-small-town-transgender-blues/A reader writes: "I grew up in a small town where people don't even want to admit that anyone can be GLB much less T or Q. This is not the best place to be at all different. Most of the community is country, redneck, rigidly religious, and not open to understanding anything outside of their own personal norms.
"I have just recently come out as trans to my friends and family. They weren't hateful, acted as though they would be supportive, but they really don't understand. I don't expect them to just suddenly understand it, but every time I direct them towards literature or websites, they seem uninterested. One of my biggest problems is that when I apply for jobs around here, I absolutely cannot use my preferred name. For one it's not legal yet, and for two I'm positive that if I tell anyone I want to work for that I'm trans, I will not be hired.
