I’ve been thinking lately about a girl I dated back when I was around 13 or 14. …

Imagine an animal that has grown up in a cage for its entire life. One day, it escapes, experiences freedom for the first time. If you throw it back in that cage, it’s going to be miserable.

But it’s not that it wasn’t miserable in the cage before; it just…

“I don’t care if my opinion offends people when my opinion is based in reality.”

I see that claim far too often, usually from people who are using “reality” as code for “nothing I haven’t​ personally experienced.” Usually when they’re saying something in direct opposition to what all scientific evidence suggests. Always as justification for remaining ignorant.

Transgender people have existed since at least the beginnings of recorded history. The terminology may have changed, but the facts haven’t. Scientists are still figuring out exactly how it happens, but the fact that it exists is no more “opinion” or “up for debate” than evolution or gravity.

Simply put, “transgender is a mental illness” is the new “evolution is just a theory.” It’s just pseudo-science to support bigotry and avoid learning.

It wasn’t until my mid-thirties that I accepted myself for who I am.

Growing up, I’d always seen myself internally as a girl, and I made very little effort to hide it. I had to put up with being called a boy of course, and I didn’t have the words…

I grew up being mocked for being a girl.

I never felt attractive enough, I starved myself to try and be more attractive. I felt so disgusted with myself when I looked in the mirror because I’d never be as cute as the girls on TV.

I hurt myself in…