Hey, everyone! My name is Bran and I  am a 31-year old FTM from Tennessee. I've been hanging around for quite awhile and decided it was time to introduce myself. I've been on Testosterone for a little over a year now (1 year and 2 weeks). I don't really have many friends and zero friends that are transgender or can really understand or relate to my situation. Only a handful of people know I'm transgender. Only two family members (my sister and nephew) are aware of my transition.  Let me state that I'm not sure of how to come out to my family but it's more about how conservative and religious they are that holds me back. Right now, my family knows my "gay" but it's something we just don't talk about. They are very friendly to my girlfriend of seven years but refuse to call her my girlfriend. They rather call her my "friend" when referring to her rather than calling her by her name or calling her my girlfriend. It doesn't bother me so much as it just makes me realize how much they are in denial if everything. Anyways, I'm really just looking to make friends and talk to people who can relate to me.

Hello Bran, and welcome!

I am MtF in Seattle and have known a few other transgender individuals around here over the years.  After starting transition I suddenly realized - I really don't have any idea how many transgender people I have met because the core of transition is in someone's mind.  Physical appearance is a detail and not necessarily visible. 

My parents are not religious but they are very conservative.  I don't discuss politics with them, and even the weather has started arguments.  Coming out seemed like an inevitable train wreck, one I postponed to the point where I was losing sleep.  And then I finally came out to my parents and the result was incredible - I haven't been this close to my parents since before puberty.  Many of our disagreements were caused by my parents' increasing discomfort with seeing me as androgynous, and once they knew I was transgender everything made sense to them.  (I have huge respect for androgynous individuals but my parents don't.)  But even if things had turned out badly it was the right thing to do.  I understand the difficulty you are wrestling with.

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Bran, thank you for joining Susan's and for posting.  Really glad to see you here!

Kendra

Hi Bran 

Welcome to Susan's Place    Glad to have you here, join on in the fun

Hugs

V M

I've been on estradiol about as long as you have been on T. This is a good place to connect. At the top of the page are our links and wikis. Lots of good information to pass along to friends and family. One of the best things you can do for yourself is to find a support group. Best of all are the people here. Coming out is hard. took me over half a century. Yep me and dirt were born around the same time.     I assume you are much younger. I wish you all the best. For some reason after a lifetime of keeping quiet I suddenly have the urge to turn my thoughts into words, and as you can see by my number of postings, I may have overextended myself. It takes a will of steel to put up with my rantings.