So I wanted to talk to you a little bit today about transgender people, and just some basic
information to know about people who identify as transgender or gender-variant.
Or gender non-conforming.
So these are people who are born in one gender, and that's determined at birth based on usually
just genitals and usually there's not chromosomal testing or anything at birth.
And so the doctors decide well, this person, this baby is either male or female.
And later in life, usually ages three and four, the transgender or gender non-conforming
child will usually start displaying attributes of the opposite gender.
So this is something that happens very early in life.
My personal story is that I grew up with my cousins and an older sister, so there were
four of us, and my cousin who was closest in age to me is a boy.
And so the two of us would just play just like boys would.
And a lot of the games that we would play, like cowboys and he-man, and we would play
with Legos and things that were a little more typically masculine in the early 80's.
And so it really wasn't too surprising much later in life when I started to feel that
there was some incongruence between my mind and my body.
And this is common of all, of a lot of transgender people.
But everyone's story is a little bit different, so a lot of what I'm saying today are just
some generalizations.
So what will happen, is through typically, ultimately what is a spiritual exploration
of that great question that we're all really asking ourselves, which is, "Who am I?
And why am I here on this earth?"
And if I'm not feeling comfortable with the--with who I am "supposed to" be, then maybe that's
now who I'm "supposed to" be.
So that journey then hopefully is met with support as someone is exploring their gender
identity.
For me, I decided to go with some hormones, and so taking masculine-izing hormones.
And that has just helped me to feel a lot more comfortable in my body.
Some transgender people will take hormones, some will not.
Some would like to but they're not able to because of other complications.
And so--and there are many people who see themselves as both genders, or neither gender.
So this is really an opportunity for us to welcome the whole spectrum of gender-identity.
So in working, in meeting people in your daily lives, when you're meeting people who are
gender non-conforming, it's very important as an ally to ask.
To ask and not assume what someone's pronouns are by what they look like, or how you perceive
their energy.
I've found that it's very helpful when you're navigating for anyone to ask, "What are your
pronouns?"
Not just for transgender people but for all people.
So this is some languaging that is very common in the LGBTQIA community right now, where
people are saying what their name is and what their preferred pronouns are, because it's
about respecting each other.