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Do you have supportive family members?

Started by PurpleWolf, November 19, 2017, 12:15:22 PM

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PurpleWolf

Quote from Tommie_9:

"Tolerance" happens when someone tells me they have compassion for me and don't say they hate me and never want to see me again. But when I probe them with questions I find they are trans-phobic in general, but they don't direct that negative energy or speech toward me. Tolerance isn't much better than rejection, but it could be worse.

"Acceptance" happens when someone tells me "It's okay who you are. I still love you. I support you." Well, no, they aren't supporting me when they say "its okay" and use the word "still." They aren't supporting me when they start communicating with me less often.

"Support" is wanting to learn more about my experience, telling me they are going to call me by whatever name and pronoun I want to use, telling me their only worry is for my safety, and including me presenting as a trans woman in their activities. Out of all my family and friends, I have one brother, his wife and their grown children who actually support me. For example, they bought a ticket for me and asked me to tailgate with them at a college football game next Saturday. I will be a fully decked out, accessorized, A-cup bra wearing, fan girl.

----
My family has never accepted me. They tolerate me, which means they don't blatantly hate me. BUT they have NEVER made ANY EFFORT WHATSOEVER to try to use my new name, ever. Unfortunately... Which means, I don't really wanna see them that much, or their families. My mom avoids calling me by any name because she knows how much I hate being dead-named. My other family members just don't care and dead-name me every time I see them, which isn't often... I don't think this is ever going to change. They blatantly ignore me being trans. They totally avoid talking about it and never bring that up. This has been going on since I was 13... Though in my teenage years they actually blatantly hated me and said some VERY hurtful things :(. And as years have passed, that has "evolved" into "don't ask don't tell".

It just is what it is. I think they are transphobic and homophobic by character... It hurts but... they aren't the only people in the world, luckily!
!!!REBIRTH=legal name change on Feb 16th 2018!!!
This is where life begins for me. It's a miracle I finally got it done.


My body is the home of my soul; not the other way around.

I'm more than anything an individual; I'm too complex to be put in any box.

- A social butterfly not living in social isolation anymore  ;D -
(Highly approachable but difficult to grasp)


The past is overrated - why stick with it when you are able to recreate yourself every day
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Bari Jo

I am not out to any of my family except my sister, but she supports me.  She's paving the way for me to come out to my parents too.  Beyond immediate family I have no clue how they will react.

Bari Jo
you know how far the universe extends outward? i think i go inside just as deep.

10/11/18 - out to the whole world.  100% friends and family support.
11/6/17 - came out to sister, best day of my life
9/5/17 - formal diagnosis and stopping DIY in favor if prescribed HRT
6/18/17 - decided to stop fighting the trans beast, back on DIY.
Too many ups and downs, DIY, purges of self inbetween dates.
Age 10 - suppression and denial began
Age 8 - knew I was different
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Julia1996

My dad and brother are very supportive. My dad has helped me with transition.  My mom is tolerant at best. My grandpa is kind of accepting since its obvious I am not going to change. My uncle is totally not even tolerant. For that reason I have absolutely no contact with him and my dad cut him out of his life completely.  I've pretty much cut my mom out of my life too. Until she changes anyway.
Julia


Born 1998
Started hrt 2015
SRS done 5/21/2018
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LadyGreen

My family is mostly supportive, mum can be a bit of a struggle but shes getting there. My siblings have been great they all support me. At worst one sister is a bit oblivious but never malicious.

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extraaction

blood family, no, not at all....other than my kids who are too young to give a FK.  Wife is supportive, but I met her after transition, so why wouldn't she be.  I had to build a support system, didn't have one grandfathered in unfortunately
beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness goes as deep as the soul
If you lack the strength to defend your beliefs, your beliefs aren't worth defending

The greatest gift you can give a demon is pretending it isn't real....
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bobbisue

      I have been very lucky my kids have been accepting and mostly supportive my youngest asked me what I would would wear to her wedding I told her I would dress  as she wished her reply was that it would be a lot more fun shopping for a dress than a tux I still smile when I remember that. I have been out to restaurants with friends dressed as myself I am not yet full time but I will be out to the world the way I am going

   bobbisue :)
[ gotta be me everyone else is taken ]
started HRT june 16 2017              
Out to all my family Oct 21 2017 no rejections
Fulltime Dec 9 2017 ahead of schedule
First pass Dec 11 2017
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sarah1972

Overall I think I am pretty lucky. blood family is very accepting. My parents are at 50% Sarah use, which is fine. My siblings all switched immediately and barely slip up. To their kids, I am now aunt Sarah.

One of my brothers in law is really struggling with it, I guess mostly out of worry for my wife. The others don;t know yet...

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Charlie Nicki

All people who know in my family so far have been supportive (parents, brother, aunts, uncles and some cousins).


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Latina :) I speak Spanish, English and a bit of Portuguese.
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Eevee

I'm out to my whole family. My brother is the only one who is openly supportive. One of my cousins at least still talks to me and hasn't said anything mean yet. The rest of my family ranges between being distant, or in the case of my parents, horrible any time they talk to me.

My boyfriend's family treats me like a person with feelings, so I actually spend time with them.

Eevee
#133

Because its genetic makeup is irregular, it quickly changes its form due to a variety of causes.



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Charlie Nicki

Quote from: Eevee on November 20, 2017, 12:51:50 AM
I'm out to my whole family. My brother is the only one who is openly supportive. One of my cousins at least still talks to me and hasn't said anything mean yet. The rest of my family ranges between being distant, or in the case of my parents, horrible any time they talk to me.

My boyfriend's family treats me like a person with feelings, so I actually spend time with them.

Hello Eevee, I sent you a PM. Please check it. Thanks!


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Latina :) I speak Spanish, English and a bit of Portuguese.
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Roll

The only two people I am out to so far, my dad and step-mother, are being supportive.
~ Ellie
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I ALWAYS WELCOME PMs!
(I made the s lowercase so it didn't look as much like PMS... ;D)

An Open Letter to anyone suffering from anxiety, particularly those afraid to make your first post or continue posting!

8/30/17 - First Therapy! The road begins in earnest.
10/20/17 - First coming out (to my father)!
12/16/17 - BEGAN HRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5/21/18 - FIRST DAY OUT AS ME!!!!!!!!!
6/08/18 - 2,250 Hair Grafts
6/23/18 - FIRST PRIDE!
8/06/18 - 100%, completely out!
9/08/18 - I'M IN LOVE!!!!
2/27/19 - Name Change!

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Siobhan Amanda

My Dad and Brother are my close family in England, I'm in Australia, they're both completely amazing😀.
"You only live twice"
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Elis

My dad tolerates me. Said some trans phobic stuff he won't apologise for. Only calls me by my actual name once I texted him saying how it made me feel. Still accidentally drops the wrong pronouns in. I've implied I'm non binary and stuff about my sexuality but it makes him uncomfortable so he'd rather just ignore everything about me being trans. I'm glad my mum died when I was young bcos it's likely she would have been like my dad and I couldn't have handled that

My brother isn't accepting and still dead names me. But we don't have anything in common anyhow. It's strange bcos he studied biology so agrees with me there's a biological cause. But I guess he'll just always see me as the weirdo misfit

My relatives who I don't see a lot all accept me and use the right pronouns and name with no problems. If they get my name wrong they immediately correct themselves. Although I worry if they've just assumed I'm now a 100% binary masculine guy who's straight and is going to get all the surgeries and fit in completely into society. Bcos that's never going to be me.
They/them pronouns preferred.



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Nora Kayte

I would not even know. The only one I still talk to I haven't told. Eventually I will. But the rest of my family has either disappeared, died or I already disowned for other reasons. Such a great family I have/had. And I would not know about my wife's family, they treat me good but as you can see from my other post my wife is iffy at best. And if I came out to her family she would probably disown me. So out of respect for her I keep it to myself. One could hope. But I feel it's up to her to come to terms with me being transgender and her wanting me to be out to them. Until she is ok with me I can't and won't do anything to embarrass her. Not 100% sure it's embarrassment she is feeling. But she has to come to terms with her feelings. I can't force her by going behind her back to her family. But I can make them think about it as I make more Facebook friends like me.


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Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.
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DeniseGrace

Negative. Though it might be possible, but difficult at this late time in life.

Denise
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KathyLauren

My only immediate family are my two brothers.  They are both supportive, though I don't have a lot of communication with one of them.  (But what he said was nice.)  I have a cousin who lives on the other side of the planet.  I don't communicate much with him, but his wife is accepting.
2015-07-04 Awakening; 2015-11-15 Out to self; 2016-06-22 Out to wife; 2016-10-27 First time presenting in public; 2017-01-20 Started HRT!!; 2017-04-20 Out publicly; 2017-07-10 Legal name change; 2019-02-15 Approval for GRS; 2019-08-02 Official gender change; 2020-03-11 GRS; 2020-09-17 New birth certificate
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dissipate

I am not out to any family members except for my sister, who is somewhat neutral. My parents think I might be a lesbian but they prefer to pretend, and perhaps it's a don't ask don't tell situation too. Giving you a hug purplewolf.

Am in the midst of planning top surgery in the US next year. Because I do not live in the US but my sister does, I thought I could save money on accommodation and transport, and bunk in with her for about two weeks. But she's asked me to go rent an Airbnb instead :(
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MaryT

I have a brother I rarely see and I am frankly afraid of him.  My parents are dead but although they loved me, they did not support me in wanting to be a woman.  When I was recognised in public by her friends, my mother actually said that she despised me.  To be fair, I was young in a time and place when and where being openly trans was very dangerous, and finding employment would have been almost impossible, so few parents would have been happy to have a trans child.
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steph2.0

Based on your definitions, I feel incredibly lucky. I've also subdivided people into four categories.

Blood family, a "relatively" small group: 100% supportive.

Extended family, by far the largest group, which includes my close circle of friends and neighbors: 90% supportive, 10% accepting.

Outside circle of friends and loose acquaintances (a pretty small group): 30% supportive, 60% accepting, 10% tolerant.

And there are a few very special friends who go far beyond supportive, and qualify as "encouraging." They have taken the lead when I've been hesitant, and helped me move forward so much when I was stuck in the many ruts we tend to run into. (Details in my personal thread.) I just returned from a 1400 mile road trip just to see them again. They are worth every mile.

Steph


Assigned male at birth 1958 * Began envying sister 1963 * Knew unquestioningly that I was female 1968 * Acted the male part for 50 years * Meltdown and first therapist session May 2017 * Began HRT 6/21/17 * Out to the world 10/13/17 * Name Change 12/7/2017 (Girl Harbor Day) * FFS With FacialTeam 12/4/2018 * Facelift and Lipo Body Sculpting at Ocean Clinic 6/13-14/2019 * GCS with Marci Bowers 9/25/2019
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Allison S

I started 2 months ago so my family doesn't know but some friends do. They're accepting and listen to my worries and fears. I do feel I'm on track because I want to go out more and more as myself [emoji4] I still think I'm not passable but I'm starting to not care about that as much.

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