When did you first know that Transgender people existed?

16! I was put into a mental hospital, and was in there with a transgendered teen. Up until that point I believed that it was all drag ans confusion.

 

I learned about the existence of transgender people in college; or at least, what the term "transgender" actually meant. I met and befriended a transwoman who was easily one of the nicest people on that campus. That's when I learned that there was nothing wrong with being trans, anyway, although I'd heard the term before, always used in a derogative way.

 

I think I was around 14, I learned all about it from the internet.

 

Both of my aunts on my mothers side are lesbians so I knew about people being gay even before I knew how to talk.

But didn't learn about Transgender till I was over 20, and I actually only learned about it from being online. There was this girl pretending to be a boy, pretending to be a girl, and that circle of friends were all transgender. So I met a lot of people.

But alas, my childhood was hanging at my super butch aunts house with her girlfriend and drinking Squeeze-Its and barrel juices and playing candy land, so to me it was like, 'Oh, you're transgender? That's cool.' /shrug

 

The first time that I remember hearing about transgender people was when I was in high school. I could have heard about them before and just forgotten though, since that it something that I commonly do.

 

I was in high school, probably 16. I found Lori Duron's blog (no idea how I stumbled across it though) and thought it was beautiful and amazing. Then I discovered Jazz Jennings. I did some more Googling and educated myself.

I am so glad I did, because a couple years later a long-time friend came out to me.

 

I used to think, around the age of 7, that being gay just meant you like to crossdress.

 

It was actually a friend that had considered themselves MTF(though recently they decided to just stick with being genderfluid) at the time. I must have been 19, before that, I never knew such a thing existed. It really helped me give perspective on myself.

 

You might want to use transgender instead of transgendered as the latter is not gramatically correct.

Though, I don't know at what age exactly I learned about trans people (MtFs only), I remember when I distributed newspapers and they told me the lady I gave them to was trans. I didn't really care. She was a nice lady. I really wish I would have heard about transgender people sooner, though. I would have transitioned earlier.

 

15. Internet.

At first I thought trans people were just perverts. Unfortunately, I shared these thoughts with my family, and they agreed.

I was 17 when I decided that transsexualism is legit.

 

I first knew of them in 2008 when Chaz Bono came out. I was 25. It was not until I came here and visited my center last year that I recognized you all properly. Growing up, I was taught to believe all trans* people were perverts and gay predators. I went to private school growing up and a moderate Christian college, so I wasn't presented the opportunity to know how they really are. I wish I had been.

In fact, I wish I had transgender friends because they truly understand suffering with dysphoria and overall marginalization. And although I am not trans*, I have had my share of suffering. Had I been a kid into today's world, I know I would be friends with them in school. I was always the outcast.

 

At around 5 or 6, i think i saw an article on magazine about it(didnt really undersnad that much though)

 

I didn't really understand what transgender is until I joined this forum. I knew about sex changes, but I just assumed they were gay people who wanted to be straight. I really did learn a lot about the LGBT community from this forum.

 

I found out when I was ten after Googling "how to know if you're gay"

 

I knew what it was when I was like 10. But then I thought gay and tranny were ok words to use even though I knew I secretly wanted to be a girl.

Formally the word transgender didn't exist. It was maybe transsexual but I was aware of what it was.

 

I remember an episode of "The Jeffersons" where George reconnects an old high school classmate, who has become a woman. I was maybe 8 or 9 (mid-70's). Around that same age, there was Klinger on M*A*S*H...less sure he counted as transgender, since it seemed he was mostly cross-dressing just to get thrown out of the army.

Then a couple years later there was a show called "Real People" that dealt with real-life stories of unusual people, lifestyles, careers, feats, whatever. I distinctly remember one episode that covered a husband and wife who were "switching places"...an MtF and a FtM. From what I remember, it was poorly and insensitively covered (especially looking back)...kind of a "how bizarre" story...with no real explanation of why someone would do such a thing.

It wasn't until I was studying psychology in college that I first encountered the word "transsexual", and had a word to attach to that kind of thing.

 

When i was around 10 or 11 lets say 11 i knew about sex changes but i thought they were because of how uncomfortable penises are