This is the letter I posted to Facebook coming out to all my friends. Bear in mind, I have made up my mind regarding the bit near the end; mostly thanks to the great support of /r/transgender where I have been lurking for a while.
I have a secret that I have been hiding from people my whole life. The main reason I have been hiding it is because I didn’t believe people would truly understand it and instead just ridicule me or generally put me down.
I’m at the stage in my life where I don’t really care if that happens and this is why I’m revealing it now. I have told a few people and every one of them has been supportive of me so far.
I am transgendered. My entire life I have wished I was born female. My entire mind is wired feminine. Most of the people reading this will have no idea what it’s like to feel as if you’re trapped in the entirely wrong body your whole life. The old adage of a woman trapped in a man’s body is very apt in my case.
To some of my friends, this will actually explain a lot. The way I behave at times, as well as what could seem to be a veil of secrecy constantly hovering over me.
A lot of my friends may have noticed at times that I had a female alter-ego on the net. I always came up with some lame excuse for it, but the real reason is because it was the only place I could really feel like myself. It’s the only place where people treat me as if I was just any other girl, something that I’d love to experience in my offline life as well.
When I was younger, I naturally did feminine things. I was constantly told things like “that’s now how a boy should behave.” I was really confused and thought there was something wrong with me. I had no idea that wanting to be a girl wasn’t normal. It wasn’t until I was about half way through high school that I realised I was different.
To be honest, I have no idea where to go from here. I’d love to have hormone therapy to change me as much as possible, however I don’t want to look and sound like some freak. I’m just happy that now I have revealed this, I no longer need to hide behind my secret.
Let me just end by saying I’m still the exact same person I always have been. Now you just know my secret.
We don’t get to see each other much apart from Christmas and birthdays, but I never have picked up a clue at all, so this is a surprise. a good surprise! I just want to say that it’s incredibly brave of you to come out with this, fucking good on you!!! Keep on going and doing what you can, and know that your step-family is 100% behind you and your decision.
You go girl! – see what I did there
Sending lots of love and luck and kudos to you, your stepsister Em xx
Great letter. Thank you for sharing it!
P.S.
I found a typo. Maybe you want to change that because it changes the meaning of the sentence a lot:
“I was constantly told things like “that’s [NOT instead of NOW] how a boy should behave.”
Sorry, can’t help it. I am married to an Editor