Becoming an ALLY of transman
When people don't oppose to your transitioning, it does not mean they are an ally of yours.
Two possibilities why:
to avoid any form of confrontations, they chose to be in silence
they can't be bothered
I have had many friends, a mixture of the above 2 pointers. The ones that are truly an ally were those who caught me off guard(they are mostly straight). When i knew them, they came across as someone who's self-centered and narrow-minded. How wrong can i get?
Coming from a lesbian community before transitioning, i would have thought the community i was in then would be very much supportive of the path i was about to partake. I was so wrong. Maybe i was around the wrong group of people, i asked myself if it was jealously among the butches that i have transcend into something they have always dreamed of. Perhaps so, perhaps not.
I've learnt this, while we live for ourselves, there are others who will come into our lives and try to take control. It is then up to us to decide if we are going to let them have it their way.
Some Do's and Don'ts for ALLYS Do's
address us using our preferred pronouns
educate yourselves on who we are
learn our new name
Don't:
disrespect and assume our sexual orientation based on our genitals
out us. I know sometimes people think it is fine since we're all in the GLBT community but we will tell when we want to
ask about our past, we will tell when we feel comfortable enough
Woody