Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hello,

I am 16 and I was wondering how to do my coming out in highschool. I will start HRT in June so I will physically change during the summer break, should I make a kind of presentation in front of my class? Or just tell some people who will tell everyone? Message on facebook?

Of course I will speak about it to my counselor (not really the term in France) before.

What do you think?

It pretty much depends on what you want to do. My high school was large and only about a dozen people knew me. I could have transitioned (if it were possible) and most people wouldn't have had a clue. In addition, 2-3 months of blockers shouldn't change you and even 2-3 months of hormones would change you very little. The biggest change would be if you socially transition as that would be noticed. With a social transition, it would be good for your friends to be aware of what you are doing.

Telling somebody in person is always best but personal letters also work. If you use social media, make sure your privacy setting are right so you don't tell anybody you don't want to know.

Dena is right, a few months on hormones won't make a huge physical difference. However if you are planning on transitioning to your identified gender at the same time then yes, coming out is a necessary step. A lot if it depends on how confident you feel and how much control you want to have over the message people hear. If you tell a few people and expect them to pass the word along then you will likely be very disappointed if not distressed by the final result. As each person tells another person they will flavour the telling with their own perception, ignorance and bias...what you want people to know and hear might not necessarily be what they are told. Telling everyone at once, while potentially really scary does mean you've told them all the same thing, they get to know what you want them to hear, they know the person not the gossip.