Goodbye husband, hello wife
He had come to the realization he was a woman with clarity and joy. I reacted with confusion and despair.
By Diane Daniel
Globe Correspondent / August 9, 2011
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2011/08/09/goodbye_husband_hello_wife_marriage_survives_transsexual_change/?p1=News_links (http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/family/articles/2011/08/09/goodbye_husband_hello_wife_marriage_survives_transsexual_change/?p1=News_links)
Not long ago I volunteered to help the director of a New England nonprofit get media coverage and, we hoped, more funding, for his organization that helps transgendered youth.
What the public responds to first and foremost, I said, are personal stories. But he told me that reporters wouldn't be able to interview the kids.
Fair enough. So I asked if he would tell his own story about transitioning from female to male, getting booted from a job because of it, and starting this organization to help other gender-questioning youth feel more empowered.
No, I was told. He didn't want the focus on him.
It's great to read the perspective of someone close to a transitioning person. We are often so absorbed by "our true self" during transitioning that we give little thought to the feelings of those around us. We think "well they are using the wrong pronouns on me, I feel hurt, maybe I should break off from them" as if our own feelings were the only ones that really mattered. Let's all give more thought to how those around us feel too... :)
Very poignant article reading between the lines. Hopefully it will help others in the same situation, and those around them.
Karen.
This is awesome! And, I am sharing it across the inter-webs...