Hey, everyone. My name is Katherine Az. I have cyclic vomiting syndrome and identify as male.
I've always known I was different from the others in my community when growing up. The fact I identify myself as male while everyone else identified me as female caused me extreme social anxiety and depression growing up.
One of my earliest memories is from when I was four, and I had just started kindergarten (I have an October birthday and have always been the youngest in my grade.) It was about a month into school, and I was on the asphalt messing around with a basketball. One of the boys came up to me and said "Only boys ares allowed to play on the blacktop!" My response was to punch him in the face, giving him a black-eye, and retort "I am a boy!" Of course, my parents apologised for the behaviour of their daughter.
From that day all the way through to 9th grade, the other students made my life miserable. The teachers never did anything, and I never told my parents because I knew that they wouldn't understand.
I've only had two friends in my life: a lesbian I lost contact with after she moved, and an androgynous non-binary who calls themself "a Nothing".
I came out to my non-binary friend back in January, and they are extremely supportive. About two weeks ago, I came out to my younger brother, and he's been accepting and supportive as well.
On Friday, I finally came out to my mother. When I initially told her she was shocked and wouldn't speak to me the rest of the day. Saturday she tarted talking to me again, but used female pronouns still. This morning, when I was at a diner with her and my younger brother, she used "he," "his," and "son" whenever referring to me. I'm extremely hopeful that this will work out.
