#trans shaming

[flyandfamousblackgirls]

Courtesy of Shauna Brooks.

[all-my-secrets-in-a-pickle-jar]

Being non-binary / trans is hard. And sometimes it’s hard in weird ways.

I suffer from chronic illness and years ago I applied for SSI/SSDI (federal disability). Then I moved and transferred my case to the lawyer in my new state. In between the time that I filed though and -now- I came out as trans. My lawyer was super respectful when he first met me and I introduced myself with my name and pronouns. -UNTIL- he read through my files and my entire history and then he confronted me because “there’s no mention anywhere of you being trans,” “what’s going on”.

What’s “going on” is that I finally had the courage to fucking come out of the closet. And you suddenly reverting to my birth name and misgendering me certainly doesn’t increase my confidence in your ability to represent me.

He verbally attacked me for the fact that the only mention of anything trans-related in my medical documentation was when I’d asked one of my ob/gyns about gender reassignment and hormone treatment with relation to my endometriosis. He said, “It looks like you’re just pursuing this as a way to fix your endometriosis.” He said “I don’t think you’re really transgender.” He said “I want you to tell me what your agenda is here.”

So I’m finally sharing this because I want people to realise that statements like this have the ability to shame and to hurt, and to upset people for literally years. I think back on it and I STILL get anxious and it was almost 2 years ago that I had this encounter.

[transtubers-blog]

I think it's still processing, so mind the quality, but yeah.

Here's Tuesday's video on trans-shaming. More specifically, transphobic 'feminists'.

- Z.