So I want to start HRT soon because I realized I was trans earlier this year but I learned something that makes me want to throw up. I might have to wait 1.5 years to start HRT. It had to do with the requirements to start it. Apparently I have to function like a stereotypical girl for that 1.5 years and I am by no means stereotypical. One of them was like "having a strong preference for friends of the opposite sex", I am like why though? I do not have a strong preference for either gender as friends, friends are friends to me.... Also doing things that are considered female activities, like what? Like what makes something a female activity? This all makes me want to throw up although I did get this from Wikipedia which might not be the most reliable source. I wanted to double check here though because I really hope this is not true :icon_sad:
There are gender therapists who use 'real life experience' for you to live as the gender you indentify as because it gives you the time to live as yourself and decide for sure if this is right for you. They do it because HRT is a big thing and a lot of the changes you go through are permanent. A year is the norm in those cases, I think, at least for some. I think it ulitimately depends on you and your therapist, because I've heard of some people who talk to therapists and endocrinologists and are prescribed HRT and it can take a while because the appointments take a while and for many this 'real life experience' has been happening through pretty much all of that.
i don't mind living as a girl because that's what I want but I probably won't have any support in doing so. I don't want people to know I am biologically a boy, I want to be seen as if I was always a girl and it will be obvious I am biologically male anyway if I wear female clothing. I am afraid people will look at me as some type of freak. I seriously wish I was dead right now. ---------- Post added 4th Oct 2015 at 07:52 PM ---------- I guess what I mean to say is I'm REALLY scared to come out right now and would rather have it be in a more slow way. Like I don't want to be like OH LET ME JUST PUT ON A DRESS AND TONS OF MAKEUP IN ONE DAY TO SPECTACULARLY COME OUT AS TRANS.
From what I know, the "real life test" should only be for surgery, and even that's changing. You shouldn't have to live a year and a half as female to go on hormones. While I'm in no way an expert on the situation in NC, this is unreasonable even if it's the law. I've read memoirs by trans people and I'm pretty sure they got hormones before living "full time". Having to act in conformity of gender norms should not be a requirement for something as basic as HRT. Many of the laws policing trans people's transitions are transphobic. This shouldn't be happening.
Yeah. That's why I put it in quotation marks. You're already living as or accepting of your gender by the time you're talking about HRT (I assume) and you don't have to be out to everyone to be living as said gender. From what I gather from a gender clinic here in England, the wait for hormones is not to live as your gender before you can have them it's because of waiting lists for appointments, so this so called 'real life test' the NHS talks about is something you're already doing. As far as I know, it's not surgery either. Some surgeons want you on hormones for a certain amount of time, because of some of the changes the body goes through. Not for 'real life experience'. But I can't say for sure.
I'm in no way experienced on trans issues, and I'm sorry I can't offer you any advice, but that seems absurd. I'm a girl, and I don't follow typical female gender roles, or act stereotypically feminine, so why should you have to? It seems really stupid, and ignorant towards the trans community. I mean, maybe its understandable of them if you have to wait a while to "make sure" but still, cis females don't have to conform to gender roles so why do trans women have to?
I really hope that was just a passing thought, because that'd be a permanent solution to a temporary problem, guaranteeing that life could never get any better. Seeing the state you live in, it might be useful for you to google "lgbt youth north carolina" and see what comes up as the first hit (the ad) and also the one right below it...
I was reading some insurance (blue cross/blue shield) standards/requirements for hrt and surgery, and while there was a one year "real life test" for surgery, there was no requirement for hormones, although up to three months was recommended.
I am no expert, but the timespan to wait for HRT can vary from 3 months to 3 years. You should see a gender therapist and talk about HRT and the effects, how long it'll take for you to get it, etc... I'm pretty sure the kind of insurance you have also is a big factor in this situation
