I didn't actually come out to him officially, but I had dealings with this acquaintance after a long hiatus. I was looking pretty male and sporting a decidedly masculine voice. He did a genuine, textbook double-take. Not often I see that.

After I came out to my mom about everything. She told me that if I was born a girl I would have been Cassandra Ann, and if my brother was born a girl, his name would have been Monica Ann.
I definitely like the name Kate far better, but the icing on the cake is my brothers female name. Now I know something about him that he doesn't even know... so when I come out to him, and he so messes with me, even jokingly, I can totally be all like "alright Monica.".

Let's all climb aboard the choo choo train to happiness
Kate♥

well the best was my colleague who jumped for joy as if her sports team won a championship. She then said,"welcome to the team! I'm so happy we are going to have another lady on the team!!!" She was smiling from ear to ear.

I kind of understand now, talking to cis women and also reading magazines with career advice etc. In my field it's tech and engineering and as such male dominated. There is the whole "brogrammer" vibe going on and that doesn't help. Another woman, especially one who leads the team is a huge plus and adds the comfort factor. I'm not sure if my male subordinates will respect me though. That is a challenge I need to figure out. They kind of don't already but while they were shocked they wished me all the best.

The best and unexpected reaction I got was being at the doctors waiting room when the female doctor called out my old male name and initially refused to accept that I was the patient she was to see. It caused a sceen and many people looked confused when I stood up but it was one of the first times that I knew I was passing as a woman

I had a great one just last week. I went to a Forest Service ranger station to pick up a permit, and the young ranger on duty did a double-take when she saw my birth name on the computer screen. But she recovered nicely, and said "Oh... (X) is an unusual name, isn't it?" I said "Yes, and I hate it, and I'll be getting it changed in two weeks." She got it immediately, said "Oh, what are you changing to?" I told her, and she smiled, held out her hand, and said "Pleased to meet you, (male name)!"  After that she gendered me correctly, had some curiosity but wasn't the least bit intrusive or inappropriate, and -- the best part -- when she issued me the card that said I'd watched the orientation video and didn't need to see it again, I asked her if she'd put it in my soon-to-be new name, and she did!

Then I had to sign my name on the back of the card, and I realized it was the first thing I'd ever signed using the new name. That was a wonderful moment, and the whole experience made my day -- completely unexpected!

Here's a big shout-out to Miranda the forest ranger!

Quote from: Tysilio on June 24, 2015, 09:30:13 AM
I had a great one just last week. I went to a Forest Service ranger station to pick up a permit, and the young ranger on duty did a double-take when she saw my birth name on the computer screen. But she recovered nicely, and said "Oh... (X) is an unusual name, isn't it?" I said "Yes, and I hate it, and I'll be getting it changed in two weeks. She got it immediately, said "Oh, what are you changing to?" I told her, and she smiled, held out her hand, and said "Pleased to meet you, (male name)!"  After that she gendered me correctly, had some curiosity but wasn't the least bit intrusive or inappropriate, and -- the best part -- when she issued me the card that said I'd watched the orientation video and didn't need to see it again, I asked her if she'd put it in my soon-to-be new name, and she did!

Then I had to sign my name on the back of the card, and I realized it was the first thing I'd ever signed using the new name. That was a wonderful moment, and the whole experience made my day -- completely unexpected!

Here's a big shout-out to Miranda the forest ranger!

Great post!

And my love to Miranda, a great woman!

Who had the good fortune to meet a great guy.

"I know." and "I knew it", both from friends

also relate to Abby, when i came out to people at gay (men and women) clubs i go to i got a lot of "so u wanna be a woman" type responses....then i had to explain and they were still confused

Quote from: Tysilio on June 24, 2015, 09:30:13 AM
Then I had to sign my name on the back of the card, and I realized it was the first thing I'd ever signed using the new name.

Oh dear! I haven't even thought about that. Better start practicing.

There were a bunch of fun responses I recall.  After telling our College President; "Glad this is about you, I thought you were here to complain about me"  My adult son; "Well that makes sense, I felt I was being raised by two women anyway"  Various versions of; "So, I figured that out long ago"  Other activist; "OK fine, but we still need you to chair this meeting or......   Best friends; Who did you tell first?  "Why didn't you ever tell me"?  I tried, you didn't listen to me and yes "I want to play with your boobs when you get them"

Another funny misconception was a brother who thought my genitals would "go away" with HRT.  I did tell him they were shrinking but disappear?  We can wish

When my wife and I sat down and told my two step-sons, my eight-year-old asked: " Is she still going to play Minecraft?"

And later, near Christmas time, he spotted, and asked about, a present under the tree addressed to Kim.  When my wife told him what it was a light bulb went on: "Yeah, Mom! You can help Kim learn to be a girl!"

My father asked immediately "Do you still like football?" No female football fans in the universe, I guess.

My mother said hesitantly "Well, I did used to wonder if you were gay..." the funniest part of that was the look on her face when I pointed out that I AM, just not in the way she meant, though.

Quote from: KarinMcD

Quote from: TysilioThen I had to sign my name on the back of the card, and I realized it was the first thing I'd ever signed using the new name.

Oh dear! I haven't even thought about that. Better start practicing.

Yes, I did have to think about it for a moment -- what came out was pretty much my regular illegible signature, but shorter and with the new initials. (If it works, don't fix it? )

The funniest reaction I got was when I was telling selected senior management at work. I had finally gotten around to telling my boss and when I told him he was literally at a loss for words - he sat there for awhile staring at me and then came out with "You wear MAKEUP?!?!"  Once he adjusted to the new me he has been great ever since.

Another funny one was the first time I went to see my therapist in girl mode - she opened her door and looked at me sitting on the couch with a puzzled look on her face, obviously thinking "I wonder who you are - I was expecting a dude..." LOL....

Quote from: KimSails on June 24, 2015, 08:31:20 PM
And later, near Christmas time, he spotted, and asked about, a present under the tree addressed to Kim.  When my wife told him what it was a light bulb went on: "Yeah, Mom! You can help Kim learn to be a girl!"

This is beautiful.

I forgot details,but I remember that when I was abroad my professor sent documents(I can't remember if it was for residence permit or something else...anyway important)Somehow they wrote M although in my passport it was still written F (I'm pre everything FTM) along with masculine photograph and beard(PCOS,possible CAH) and also gender neutral name.I was happy but they had to change it so I waited for another week.

Another situation was my pregnancy(I had great desire to become parent so I incorporated that fact in my plans).It was a shock for Faculty staff "We thought you can't become pregnant!" Of course everything went well..

Also once when I attended summer school I had male roomate..and on summer school certificate after final exam they wrote "M"...

I had a couple different weird reactions, but the one that I can share is when I told someone I had went to school with since elementary school. I had been chatting to him on Facebook about it and he didn't believe the person he was talking to was me. So he proceed to quiz me on things he new about me. Despite my anwsers he still didn't believe so I had to remind him of something happened when we were growing up that only a hand full off people actually witnessed occur to be able to authentic myself in his eyes. It's weird in the sense I would have never expected I would have to go to such links with him. Once we got passed that he understood and believed me.
Mariah

Quote from: Tessa James on June 24, 2015, 03:18:03 PM
There were a bunch of fun responses I recall.  After telling our College President; "Glad this is about you, I thought you were here to complain about me"  My adult son; "Well that makes sense, I felt I was being raised by two women anyway"  Various versions of; "So, I figured that out long ago"  Other activist; "OK fine, but we still need you to chair this meeting or......   Best friends; Who did you tell first?  "Why didn't you ever tell me"?  I tried, you didn't listen to me and yes "I want to play with your boobs when you get them"

Another funny misconception was a brother who thought my genitals would "go away" with HRT.  I did tell him they were shrinking but disappear?  We can wish

Tess, that last piece was funny...I sure wish as well lol
Also, I am hopeful my supervisors at work will be as great as your college president was. (I work for a college) I really haven't come out to anyone yet (aside from y'all here) and I hope I will look back and smile about it when I do.

Last fall I was writing a grant application for this summer with my friend L.   We were just about done, when I realized there was a very slight chance that I might decide to transition before we lead the workshop the grant would fund.   So I decided I should let her know about my trans-ness before we sent the proposal in.  while I had know L for years, I had no idea how she would accept the news.    Her response:  Is that all?   I was afraid you were going to be unable to help with the grant program.   

That is still my favorite response and L soon became my first girlfriend (as a girl's friend.)

they guys i thought would kick my ass hit on me!