👑 I take hrt for fun 👑

And He said “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

— Genesis 32:28

And they said to him, “It’s not that we don’t like the name Israel, it’s just that we’ve always called you Jacob. We’re so used to it.”

And he said to them, “Right, no, I get that, I do know that you’ve always called me by that name before, I hadn’t forgotten. I’ve been used to it too, haha! And I really appreciate your bearing with me —”

And they said, “Well, first things first, you should definitely know we’re going to get it wrong sometimes.”

And again he said, “Of course! I figured that.”

And they said, “We really just want to stress, before moving on to any other topics, that we’re going to forget a lot, and use the old name. That’s the first thing we want you to know, now that you’ve made your request, just how badly we plan on carrying it out.”

And Jacob said, “OK.”

And they said that a lot. And everyone else said that, too, with astonishing regularity upon hearing the new name, so eventually when Jacob—sorry, Israel—told anyone about it he started saying it for them, to save time, “My name shall no longer be called Jacob but Israel for I have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed but I don’t expect you to get it right all of the time, I know it’s a big change, I totally understand that it’ll take some time to adjust.”

And some of them said, “What if we came up with a name that meant both? Sort of in-between until it feels more natural? Like Isracob or Jasrael. Yeah, we’re going to call you Isracob.”

To which Israel said, “I—OK. If you think it’ll help.”

And they said, “Thanks for understanding. It’s just that this is really hard for us too, you know? In some ways, it’s like you’ve died.”

To which Israel said, “In which ways?”

And they said, “Please don’t get defensive.”

And some of them took “it’ll take some time to adjust” as “forever”, which had not been what Jacob—Israel! Sorry, sorry, sorry! It’s just that my brain is so used to saying Jacob, because you really are Jacob in my brain, just Jacob-doing-something-weird-these-days—had meant at all.

And some of the others said Israel some of the time, and Jacob some of the time, exclaiming “Oh, my God, oh my God!! Israel, sorry, oh my God I’m so sorry” after each accidental Jacob such that each time was more noticeable than the time before, and Israel eventually found himself saying “It’s fine, don’t worry about it, it’s totally fine, don’t feel bad, I didn’t even notice, Jacob is fine, I honestly always liked Jacob better anyways.”

Not in a narcissistic way, though we do deserve a little narcissism

It’s running your hand along your arm and feeling how soft your skin is

It’s looking at the sun hitting your hair just right, and seeing how pretty it actually is

It’s taking so many selfies your camera roll gets filled

It’s looking at the mirror and registering that you love your body now

It’s loving yourself when you feel like no one else can love you

It’s entirely unique to you

"I identify as a trans woman, or just plain woman. In everyday life, of course, it’s woman, but if people ask, I tell them I’m trans. I don’t hide it exactly, but I don’t wear it on my forehead either. The first time I realized there was something fishy going on was in second grade and we were having a school play and doing Heidi. I wanted the lead part and the teacher said, “No, that’s only for girls.” And of course I knew I was a boy, but I didn’t realize that boys couldn’t do things like that. At the age of fourteen, I was left alone in the house for a summer and went up in the attic and found some of my mother’s old clothes and discovered I enjoyed dressing in them. After college, I went abroad to Denmark and decided to try denial. You just get busy with other things and then you don’t have to worry about your identity.

I met a woman that summer, Edith, that I eventually married. After we were married for about a year and a half, I realized, “This is not working, I need to be who I am.” So I outed myself to her. In those days, of course, the only label we had for it was transvestism. By 1980, when I was forty years old, I knew I wanted to transition, but I didn’t tell Edith. Somehow I got wind, I think through a television show, that if you wanted to transition you are required to get a divorce first. They didn’t want to foster lesbian couples being married legally. So, I wasn’t going to do that. I was too much in love. The two of us were married altogether forty-six years. So I waited, and then in 1993, she found out she had cancer. Of course, then I knew that this was not a time to transition. She died in 2008. I came out publicly as transgender in 2012.

After Edith died, I was alone here in the house. It just got empty, very empty, very fast. And so I knew I needed to do something. I met Stephanie, a transgender woman, at the Emerald City Social Club. She was homeless at the time, so I said, “Why don’t you move in?” And then we started taking in other girls, too. Since then, I’ve had over thirty girls go through the house at one time or another, some for shorter periods, others for longer periods. I think it’s a worthwhile effort. I’m trying to give people a little bit of safe space and respite from the anxieties of homelessness.

As you grow old, you fear the unknown. You can end up needing care. By inviting people to come stay with me, I have someone to at least look after me on a daily basis and make sure that I’m not falling through the cracks. This whole house has served in some ways as a model because, as far as I know, it’s the first trans house. The model is simple: if you can, open your house to others. As I say, we don’t have a homeless problem, we have a hospitality problem. We can still be effective doing what we can even if we regret it’s not enough."

This tiktok about someone’s pre-transition self is so so SO tender and I just want anyone who has transitioned and may be mourning their old self to see this and to know it’s okay. It’s okay to miss that person you once were, it’s okay to wish you had embraced what you had and who you were before transitioning. It doesn’t mean you regret it, and it doesn’t mean you made the wrong decisions.

It’s okay to think about that person, it’s okay to mourn them, and it’s okay to wonder. The person you were before transitioning may have been a trick of the light, but it doesn’t mean they weren’t special while they were here.

87 year old grandmother from India brings joy into the hearts of transgender people all over the world

Kali published the following Instagram post on the role of her grandmother in her life in this Instagram post:

The necklace I’m wearing in this photo was the first gift my grandmother gave to me after I came out to show her support for my transition. My grandmother was and is still my biggest support in my life. 

When I came out to her, I was scared she may not understand it and our relationship getting ruined. She was extremely worried at first about how society would treat me and had some health issues because of the stress, but she never let me know that she was worried. 

Slowly with time, she started getting better and now Fully loves me as the woman I am. She was the one who helped me make my mom and other relatives understand and accept me. 

I asked her if she wanted to be part of a reel for @officialhumansofbombay and she was so excited to do it with me and she said she wants to give a strong message to society to help every Transgender person out there to gain acceptance and love from their family.

I have included the video from Humans of Bombay above.

The 87-year-old says that she no longer cares about “log kya kahenge” – a Hindi phrase meaning, “what will people think.”

Shinjuku Boys (1995).

Shinjuku Boys (1995). Tatsu, a transgender man, jokes with his barber about his changing appearance, and his newly masculine features.

TRANSCRIPT:

BARBER: So you go regularly to the hospital for your hormone injection? TATSU: [nods] BARBER: Does it hurt? TATSU: Not at all. BARBER: You have more facial hair. It must be the hormones. You’ll get a moustache soon. TATSU: I’ll look distinguished! They’ve made quite the difference. I never thought I’d change so much. Most customers say I’m like a man. BARBER: Really? TATSU: [laughing] They say, “You look like a man. You’re not cute.” BARBER: [laughs]

Interview With Jamison Green. Originally posted on Youtube, by Dr. Lindsey Doe.

TRANSCRIPT: [Jamison Green sitting on a couch, being interviewed by Dr. Doe. He is wearing a suit shirt and a black jacket, and has a grey beard.] JAMISON: When I first transitioned, I thought I was going to go get a sex change, then go home and mow my lawn. I did not ever imagine that my life would change at all, because already people- at least half the time, sometimes more- thought I was male. And so, I figured nothing was going to change, I would just feel more comfortable in my body. I realised that there were all these other people out there who were living in fear and shame, because of their differences. And I thought, that is not right. And so I said to them, I’m going to start using my full name in public, and I’m going to start talking about who we are. Don’t be afraid to change in all kinds of ways. Your self can change. [Jamison and the interviewer high-five.] INTERVIEWER: I’m impressed by what you’ve done. JAMISON: Thank you. END TRANSCRIPT.

Jamison Green was born in 1948. He came out as a trans man the late 1980s and made his transition public, for the benefit of others. He has been an activist since then, and led the FTM community after Lou Sullivan's death.

His contributions to trans rights have been largely erased by mainstream narratives around trans history.

8 page short kids book class project on important/current/difficult topics! Covered the topics of change, sibling relationships and the subject of having a transgender family member (in this case an older brother!)