OK, so today I finally got up the courage to go & see my old psychology professor today, partially to say hi since I haven't seen her since graduation back in 1999, but mostly so that I could tell her about what has been going on with me, namely that I came out this summer as transgender. After several previous attempts that failed when she wasn't in her office, I was both a bit nervous & a bit happy when I found her there today! So I knocked n her door & said hi. She did recognize me, but she couldn't remember my name since it had been so long. After I told he, she immediately remembered me! So we sat down & she asked me what I had been up to since I graduated, so I began to tell her about university and working in the music industry & some of the other things I had done in the last twelve years. And then I said it - I camme out at the end of June - as transgender. She smiled and said wow! and then we talked about things for about a half hour, mostly about how I had felt and issues with my parents, as well as how I am pretty sure that I am also a lesbian (which was a bit hard for me, since I knew she is gay herself; this was the first time I've ever told another gay woman face-to-face that I identify as being a lesbian as well, o I was really hoping she wouldn't be upset or offended), but mostly my plans to fully transition to my true gender while I am going to college this year and next. She congratulated me onn such a huge step I had taken and when we were finished, she even hugged me. She said she is totally supportive & that I can talk to her when I'd like, as well as that she wanted me to keep her updated as I go thru my journey to become myself finally. The only thing that I wished had gone better was when she told me I would be a trailblazer for my area. She pretty much confirmed what I had suspected all along. That in my city, a place of over 70,000 people, no one has ever transitioned from male to female here, so I will quite literally be the first. This has me a bit scared now, since this isn't the greatest area for LGBT people to begin with, which means that when I really start to transition, it will be really obvious & I will be feeling very open to possibly being targeted by people who don't agree or are bigoted. All in all tho, when I left her office, I felt much better for finally having fully come out to her. I'm hoping that she will be able to be someone that I can really have on campus to talk to if I need to, since there isn't an LGBT group on campus right now (I want to start one, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have with my schoolwork right now). So overall, today was a really good day!
Congrats!! I'm glad that she is totally awesome like that!! It's also nice that you now have somebody else that you know that you can talk to!!
Congrats, kiersten!! It's really great that she's so supportive and seems to have good advice as well. Well done! (*hug*) (!)
UPDATE: just came out to another prof today & she was so happy for me too! she said she could tell there was something bothering me & hat I didn't really seem happy the last time we had talked back in January, but she also said she could see a BIG difference between when we talked today & when we talked then! We even ended up talking about stuff like hair removal, clothes and both of us have a love for watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, so she is totally on the same page with me! When I commented about her having gotten her hair cut, she said I was the first person who noticed! So she was so cool about eveything as well! It's nice being a little bit more out at college, I can almost feel the wind going thru my hair now! LOL!
Congratulations! I live near Sarnia & have seen some hateful behaviour... but a lot more of acceptance. People adapt. Transgendered people might seem new and strange around here for a while and trailblazing tends to be uncomfortable, so expect lots of personal questions until people start to understand. (That is, when you're ready... Nothing sucks worse than being asked all kinds of questions when you don't have your own answers yet!)