The day a person realizes that they are transgender is an important time.

For those who consider themselves transgender, there is point where “all the stars are aligned” and the signs point to one answer. This moment provides a label for how you have felt for your entire life, but were previously confused by. It’s an answer. But that initial feeling of relief of actualization can soon be followed with the pain of realizing that you will likely be misunderstood by those around you.

Being transgender is a difficult thing considering everything that someone goes through while discovering who they are and who they want to be. At the same time they have to contend with everybody else around them trying to label them just as much as they are trying to find appropriate
labels for themselves.

Gender is not something that people are assigned to at birth. It can be a choice that you have if you feel happy with being another gender than the one you are assumed to be based on physical attributes. Gender is not just male and female. Between the two there is a whole spectrum and you can be whatever you want to be.

A person can identify as multiple genders, or anything that they feel really fits for them.

While it may be strange to some people, there is absolutely nothing wrong with people doing whatever they want to be comfortable with their body. If a person is born male but wants to dress and act like a girl because that makes them happy, that is a perfectly fine thing and people need to understand that this is a thing that will happen, people will do what they want because anybody should be allowed to be happy with their body and who they are.

Transgender confusion issues are also playing out in the public with recent legal battles across the country about whether transgender people should be able to use the bathroom that they identify with. In South Dakota, a bill was proposed to forbid this, but it was vetoed by the state’s governor. On the other hand, in New York City they recently approved rules permitting transgender people to use the bathrooms they identify with. While in some places this is allowed, the fact that there are many places where it isn’t, and that is terrible.

It is difficult to tell people how you feel if they are still learning what makes them happy and comfortable, but it is even more difficult when people don’t accept somebody for who they are. If somebody is born a certain gender but feels like the other, that is OK. I understand that it might be hard to understand or accept people who are different, but it should not be something that is different, or something that separates people. We as a people need to learn to grow towards accepting this lifestyle choice and to allow for people to make them. We as a people need to learn that being transgender doesn’t make a person any less human. Transgender is an expressive step into a colorful society.