To Whom it May Concern

Let me make this very clear to those who think I’m transitioning because they think it’s a man’s world and I’m jealous (real quick lmao). I’m not transitioning because I want to be a man. I’m transitioning in order for my body to match my brain because in my brain, I have always felt that I AM a man.

To them, I have this to say: Do you think I really would want to go through all this extra trouble of taking a testosterone shot each week in my ass, getting top surgery, growing a penis just because I’m jealous? You really think ever since I started telling you as a kid that I am a boy was really just me being jealous and a massive phase that will eventually end? 25 years strong is quite the phase, my guy.

Do you really think I prefer using the men’s restroom which constantly has pee splattered everywhere and smells like a dung house over a women’s restroom? Do you really think I want to stop having girl slumber parties??? Do you really think I want to go through all this trouble to have my amazing friendships potentially lost because I’m now perceived as a man and their men no longer want me hanging out with them because they perceive me as a threat? I am medically transitioning because for me, this is the healthiest and safest thing to do since I have gender incongruence.

You think it’s a choice to have constant chronic stress from simply inhabiting my body? The mismatch between my body and brain is the source of most, if not all of my previous health problems and anxiety. Why would I lie about all this? Why would I go out of my way to share the deepest, most vulnerable part of my being if I didn’t think it was absolutely necessary? Why would I go through all this trouble if I didn’t think it was life saving treatment? I’m not doing this because I’m jealous, I’m doing this for my own health and well being.

I encourage you to start listening to what someone is telling you rather than making up your own opinion’s from a place of ignorance. I know it’s hard to conceptualize what it would be like living with gender incongruence. I know some distrust science because they’ve been conditioned by religion to filter out any information that does not support their beliefs. I know that you don’t want to believe this is possible and it’s just easier for you to assume that all my life I’ve just been “jealous” and I don’t actually have gender incongruence. But I’ll tell you it’ll be easier for you to accept someone for who they say they are rather than make up judgmental and irrational reasons that do not make any sense according to what I have told you.

I know that your non-acceptance is rooted in ignorance and potentially your religion, but we can move beyond to a place of understanding if you try. It just takes a little more effort on your part to consider a viewpoint beyond ignorance and/or outside of religion, but I know that you can do it if you really want to. I also conjecture that oftentimes due to religion, people tend to see many things as “belief systems in competition with their own religion” and if that were the case with yourself, I’m here to remind you that gender incongruence is not a belief system. It’s a proven medical diagnosis backed up with research; something religion verily envies and is the reason why so many religion’s rely so heavily on cognitive dissonance.

So consider that what I’m telling about myself is true. Then by doing so, you will not only remove a judgmental view of myself from your mind, but you may even learn to accept yourself in the process. But if you do not wish to consider my words as true and would rather remain with an ignorant viewpoint from oneself and/or religion without questioning it, then I cannot help you on that. Whatever you choose to believe, I hope one day you will listen to the person who is going through the experience rather than people who are judging those from a belief system where the morals have constantly fluctuated throughout the centuries.