Pink Sheep Of The Family

One of the things that's a major concern for a transperson is their relationship with their family after you drop the bomb about your transition.

You are aware before you swallow your first hormone or inject yourself that the familial reaction can run the gamut from total acceptance to never being invited to a family reunion for the rest of your life.

It's a little more painful for an African-American transperson because we tend to place heightened cultural importance on familial relationships.

I talk to my mom and sister on a weekly basis and the relatives that do love and care about me from time to time. The reactions in my family to my transition ranged from relatives who don't want anything to do with me to outright acceptance by others.

While family ties are important, it was more important that I be my authentic self. In order to be the best person I could be and live an honest, happy and productive life it became imperative for me to transition.

I just reached a point in my life where I wasn't going to be stuck any longer in a gender role that didn't fit me and made me miserable just to make other peeps comfortable.

The way I see it, if your blood family is tripping, make your own. I'm also fond of saying that a transperson's family expands after transition, not contracts.

I'm blessed to have a diverse, international group of people I call my brothers and sisters and friends as well. If some peeps in my family see my being a transperson as a reason not to talk to me any more, or hide behind the Bible as an excuse to cut familial ties with me, then it's their loss.

So if that makes me the pink sheep in the family, then so be it.