Welcome to Visitors from Normblog

Over at Norm's place, he's just published a short-short story of mine.

When I put it for review at one support site, the initial reaction was "too bleak". Then we went through the numbers : 20%, with a possible 30% of successful transition. The reality is only 10% manage it. 20% recorded as suicide : the reality is 31% from the latest data I have. Of younger transsexuals who have been thrown out of home, one in 8 die of violence or suicide, according to one source. Certainly transsexuals as a whole in the USA are murder victims at 17 times the normal rate, over 5 times that of the next highest, that of young Black males (3 times the normal).

The story is actually far more optimistic than the reality.

As for the people in the story? The names and a few minor details were changed to protect the innocent. The figure for DES and Gender Dysphoria is correct, as I've blogged about before.

Here's a quote from a support site, just a few hours old.

Sunday was a very depressing but understandable day. On the way home from church J....... said we need to talk about our relationship.
...
The heartbreaker was when J..... said our marriage as husband and wife was over and she needed to get to the next level. She then told me she was going to take off her wedding rings.
I just cried.
After I got my emotions under control, I agreed with J.....
I asked her if I could be the one that took off her wedding rings.
She said that would be nice.
My feelings was that I was the one that put her wedding rings on in the first place and at this time, I thought the best thing I could do is to take her hand and ease the rings off.
It was sad.
I cried again and then we hugged each other.

She's not the only one who cried, after reading that. I'm in a similar situation - married, but we're no longer husband and wife. I wouldn't pass the physical.

Ah, Gender Dysphoria. The Gift that keeps on giving. To the victims, to their spouses, to their children...

If it wasn't for the massive sense of relief (I can't describe it) that the victims get when they give up trying to act in a role they are neurologically unsuited for, and just be themselves, then it would be extremely depressing.

As it is, it just makes people like me, those whose transitions have been relatively easy (so far...), more determined than ever to do what we can to help others. Any way we can. Blog entries, short stories, whatever it takes.