Six Word Memoirs on Life Stories

Wench says,

I dated someone who was a pre-op female-to-male transgender. At 19, when we met, he couldn't remember whether he had lost his virginity at 17 or 14. I'm not completely sure what that meant, but obviously there was more to the story - repressed memories, unimaginable grief, and, from what I came to understand in our long conversations, a resentment for himself and a desire to prevent some things from his past from happening again.

I don't know for sure if that was why he made the decision to begin hormones and eventually have surgery. Certainly some people just feel they were meant to be in someone else's skin. But I still look back at him and find myself feeling so deeply that I should have tried harder to be the person who cared about his past. It was glossed over and I didn't know enough to recognize that it was really, really important.

One thing I took away from that relationship is that we should love People - genders, sexual orientation, nationality, religion aside, people desperately need love.

I don't want to discourage you from making a decision you believe is right - I don't know much about you other than that you have written here about some of the most heartbreaking things I can imagine anyone going through, let alone a teenager who is still trying to figure out who they are in this world. This is the time, more than any other time, that you need people in your life who are committed to caring for you and supporting you and I am so, so sorry that you don't really have that in your parents. It isn't fair.
I think what I wanted to say to Mel was, "If this is what you need to do, do it. But it won't make your past go away and it won't take away the hate, sadness and feeling that you aren't safe that has formed in you because of what you've experienced. You will still be YOU. And you were victimized, abused, you were taken advantage of and I am so sorry this happened to you. But changing your gender won't protect you from your own mind and the memory of those things. You need to talk to someone."

I'm just sharing my own experience. Take from it what you will. You are bright, intelligent, amazing, and you have the support of us here.

BecomingLogyn says,

I'll admit when I first started talking to people and telling a few of my close friends that I'm transgender (age 14) I wasn't completely sure, which is why I haven't said anything about it the last couple of years so I could think about it more and become more comfortable with myself. I know I've been through a lot and I know I still have a lot to deal with, this being only one, but I also know that right now I need to be able to be myself and how I've felt like I should be since I was little.
I have ended up telling my dad but he and my step-mom are against me acting on any transitioning before I graduate.

Thank you.