Queer Resistance Means Unity

Did My Gender Transition Shut the Whole World Down?

We need to remember before it’s too late that we’re not so different after all

Photo of the author now and, inset, in 2020.

My title sounds like a ridiculous question, doesn’t it? Who else could possibly care that I went through this science fiction-like experience of shifting my perspective of the world to something so different across five years? If I believed the news, lots of people are worked up about the idea that someone like me could be transgender.

In that moment, it sure felt like this secret I was afraid to tell did shut the whole world down. I had just discovered who I was not long before all of that happened.

I woke up this morning and noticed that I don’t recognize my life from five years ago. Most people who know me now wouldn’t recognize the face or name or voice I had back then. I’m comfortable enough in who I am that occasionally I’ll show one of my new friends a picture of who I was early in 2020. I live across the United States now, so most of the people I know are new friends. My wife is the only person still in my life who knew me over 10 years ago. Only a very small handful of people who talk to me and know all about me knew me 5 years ago.