So much said in so few words. This says it all in a nutshell. It is sad they way most think they have to hide who they are in this day and age. Example: I live in a red neck small town in northeastern lower Michigan, yet I not only demand to be treated as me, but I am treated as me, by everyone, including the red necks. They call me names and make threats and I tell them to go home and sleep it off. No, not really, but I just walk away, leaving them still calling me names and making their empty threats and I am smiling as I walk away too. The problem we as transgender persons have, is we use way too much caution in protecting ourselves from the wolf pack that would devour us.

But I have lived my entire life showing the world who Barbara Lynn Terry is. I ignore the boys don't do that saying because the word "boy" is generic, just as girl, man and woman are. Male and female are descriptive but, how do you define what is male and what is female? Genitalia, inner, perceived identity? How?

This poem should be sent to every woman's magazine for publication. It has a message the world needs to learn. Thank you for sharing.

"With confidence and forbearance, we will have the strength to move forward."

Love & hugs,
Barbara

"If I have to be this girl in me, Then I have the right to be."