LGBTQ+ Politics
I Watched the Presidential Debate Because I’m Transgender and Scared
We just need to be allowed to live
I tried not to breath too much while watching the debate. It was hard to pay attention through the non-stop echo of words pouring out of my mouth in spite of me:
“Just don’t mention our people. Just don’t mention our people. Please don’t mention our people. Somehow forget we exist. Both of you. Now. We don’t need any special help.”
Well, of course we need all kinds of help, but that’s nowhere near the radar of what we’re facing with our utter erasure on the ballot in November.
We just need to be allowed to live. I finally want to live after suicidal ideation nearly drowned me over and over from age 7 to age 35 when I started becoming…myself. Just let my people exist. We each know what we need. With proper support, there are lots of us who don’t even need to medically transition. Who knows, with proper support, I might not have needed that to feel like myself. All that I know is that my first shot of Testosterone erased a lifetime’s weight of suicidal ideation, that I experienced for the first time what it meant to want to be alive at a level I didn’t know was possible. Whether I had a hormone imbalance or a lifetime of pretending to be someone I…