I was at my little brother's house and we were talking about stuff while he had me trouble shooting his vacuum cleaner. Out of the blue, he stopped talking and looked lost for a minute. Then he said, "My Grandson is Transgendered". He then revealed that he (she) is 5 years old. He told me that the child's mother, my brother's daughter, said that they had been through the Doctor, Shrinks and endless sessions of telling the child that they were not going anywhere until HE put on the right clothes, until it became obvious that this was not just a passing fancy on the child's part.

My poor brother looked so lost. I know of another child who was thrown out by her parents at age 6 and went on to suffer unspeakably for many years, for the same reason. This transgender thing is not for the faint of heart, and around 40% do not live, while for some of us, our very survival is a day to day thing.

If any of you have followed "50 Shades of Grey" , there is a scene where Christian kneels at Anastasia's feet like a bought slave, begging her not to leave him. When my own GID began to manifest, my then wife caught me wearing her panties, and those who have experienced something similar will know that it is like Armageddon. I remember kneeling like a slave begging her not to leave me. My heart goes out to anyone that has had that sort of experience. We did remain together a year or so after that, but the real marriage was over.

My heart breaks for any parent that has a child who wants to be the OTHER gender. It is tough for the parents, and orders of magnitude more difficult for the children who experience it. However, the parents of my brother's grandchild seem to be taking it in a loving and compassionate way and I thank God for them. I wish for all the blessings on that child that she can possibly absorb. I don't know her name yet.

By my understanding, it will be another 5 years before she is on blockers, and longer before she actually starts Hormones. Hopefully, she will learn very young not to reveal that part of her life. And, hopefully people like Trump and his ilk will either learn mercy or drop dead. In the state of Washington, perhaps there are things to do that will conceal her past.

I've been out and living it since 2004, and like many of us, the cost of such a decision was not worth it and many sessions on the psych ward followed. Now I live with the humiliation that I fucked up killing myself twice. How can you be that much of a screw up? In the last several years, life has been much better and I am enjoying life but without the family that I so loved. There is not a day that I do not think of that loss.

Are things better for us in 2018 than they were in 2004? To me it seems so. I pray that she and those like her will have wonderful, full lives.

Amen

Gwen