Jack

I don´t get it; why are people so obsessed with sexual organs? Especially those obsessed with religions that preach that we should care about our souls and not be so concerned with the flesh, so why are they the most concerned with a body part? I´m old, but that doesn´t mean I agree with old prejudices, and even more so when there have been so many serious scientific studies.

When I see Amelia or Aiden, I couldn´t care less about their gender; I see precious human beings who go about their lives without bothering anyone. I have a scientific mind myself, and when Amelia invited us into her world, for which I felt honored, I wanted to understand everything about the gender journey. Gender-affirming care has a strict protocol with no other purpose than protecting trans people every step of the way. I couldn´t find an irresponsible suggestion to hurry things or push someone into taking a certain step, but it is carefully driven by the trans person themselves, and everything takes a long time, to the regret of trans people.

What´s worrying is the ignorance and hate pervading society that makes trans people´s lives a very challenging endeavor. It´s heartbreaking to see families disowning their kids: that´s against nature! You know what’s unnatural? Unnatural is not being trans, but not loving your kid! Aiden´s family is not only unsupportive but violent, which makes it urgent for me to help him in any way I can. I don´t believe it was a coincidence to meet him, and I´m taking it as a personal challenge to ensure he´s ok.

Two things concern me right now: the violence must stop, and Aiden´s reaching puberty. There must be a way to help him get treatment. Sue gave me Dr. Stewart´s phone number, and I have an appointment this afternoon. Aiden doesn´t know. I need to understand the implications of Aiden being a minor and needing his parents’ approval for blockers first.

What Aiden does know is that he has our family´s support and that I´ll give him his first routine on Saturday, so he can start working out.

 

Amelia

Transitioning is a crash course in many aspects of life! Before starting my transition, I wasn´t paying attention to people´s reactions, and navigating life was pretty straightforward. Now I´m hyper-conscious of how people look at me, and I would prefer it if they didn´t.

But Kate´s advice was right: whatever you transmit to people, that´s how they´re going to treat you. It´s a vibe thing; we send vibes that people can feel, even if they´re not noticing it. I´m a very relaxed person, so they say, so they don´t see me as a threat, and they can see for themselves that the way I express my gender is my thing and my thing only. What´s the big concern about how people dress or look? What matters is if you´re a good person.

But not all trans kids know Kate´s secret or behave in a way that lowers other people´s defenses, and there´s no guarantee of safety when you come across a transphobe who wants to hurt you. It´s brave to be yourself in a hostile world, so this experience has also taught me to always be careful and aware of my environment.

Those politicians making anti-trans laws are creating more hate. They use a lot of hate speech and people are reacting to that by trying to hurt us. I thought that it would be a good idea to reach out to the trans community online and learn more about what other trans kids are doing to stay safe and to learn some transitioning tips, but at the same time, I did learn from them about horrible cases of violence. So, for now, I decided it’s better to stay away from social media, that´s not helping me.

The good thing is that I contacted some kids who have taught me interesting things. The trans community is great. There’s a lot of support, and when kids tell their stories, its as if I was hearing my own! But I didn´t like what some kids are doing because they think that the way to make people respect us is by returning the violence. That´s ridiculous would only lead to more pain. You do you, but that´s not me.

I care about Aiden so much, we´ve become very close. But Grandpa is the best and he talked to me and said that he would do everything he could to help him. It’s hard because Aiden´s family is very aggressive. But Grandpa said that he´s even open to using lawyers if necessary, although he thinks that good information and some negotiation skills should be enough.

I hope he´s right, but I wouldn´t be so sure. “Transphobia is irrational, Grandpa”, I told him. He only sighed in agreement, but I have my hopes up for his meeting with Dr. Stewart.  They both are geniuses so they should come up with a solution.  

 

To be continued…