Is it harder to come out as a different gender than sexual orientation?

Well, I think having gays and lesbians around has become a normal thing in many places. People know what it means. It's different with many of the other differences because they are much harder to understand for the average 'normal' straight person.
I'm a simple gay man, so I'm part of the LGBT*** community, but that doesn't mean I can understand exactly what is going on inside a, for example, transgender person. It will just take time

 

Yes, unfotunately gender seems to be a whole different beast because of how integral it is to a person's sense of self and identity. (Sexual orientation is obviously also extremely important) Everytime someone interacted with you in the past it has been in context of your perceived gender so they often feel as if they are losing you when you come out as a different gender. There is also a much more direct effect on the close family as they need to get used to your new name and pronouns and also transitioning is terrifying because of how dangerous it really is. I believe it is something that people who choose to adopt new gender identities need to take into consideration. You really do have to be sure before coming out to family members... :icon_sad:

 

I think that, as least for many, who you are is more important than who you like. So I would say that in general, yes - gender is harder than sexuality. Sexuality for me is like "Oh, you like guys! Cute!", but with gender it's often like "O-kay... uh... what now?"

 

I found it harder, yes. I never imagine that I would have had a difficult time saying I was gay or bi, but telling my family about my gender identity was difficult and took a long time. In fact, when I told my mom that I was trans, she asked me about my sexuality and asked me if it meant I liked guys now, I just casually said "I think I'm pansexual, so basically bisexual, in layman's terms." That part was really no difficulty for me whatsoever.

 

Gender is overt. Sexuality is generally more covert.

Your sexuality is not the first thing people see. Your gender is.

So yes, it is significantly harder to come out as transgender.

And to parrot Lazuri, after telling my parents I'm trans, explaining that I'm in layman's terms "bi" was just essentially an after thought.

 

I've experimented with labels before. I've come out as gay, been outed as bi, come out as bi, and come out as lesbian. It was hard, but was nothing compared with coming out as trans.

 

As a cis guy who has come out as being gay and bisexual, honestly i can just tell that in 90% of places coming out as Trans is at least 5x harder. The general cis/straight community is far more ignorant and divided on trans issues than on sexual orientation issues.

Always remember to be supportive people, and remember to use the right pronouns. Trans folk need all the support they can get.

 

I'd say that coming out as a different gender is 90% harder than a different sexuality. Thing is, even people in the LGBT+ community know so little about the T and there's still transphobia in the community among LGB people just because people aren't educated at all and it's so misunderstood. If there was more awareness and support for trans people (which, I know, there is starting to be what with Caitlyn Jenner etc. in the spotlight but honestly, what's she done that's actually good for trans people other than raise awareness that we exist because she's a pretty awful role model for people to base trans people on) like there has been for non-hetero people then it'd probably be a lot easier because people would be more understanding.

Like others have said I think the main issue with coming out as trans is physical appearence. Society doesn't like to see people deviate from the norm because it makes people uncomfortable. We like boxes and labels and first impressions. Trans people take that away whereas non-hetero people and sexuality -without expressing it with being in a relationship- can potentially 'hide' it. Even people who are out don't have to wear it on their skin, they can just tell people if they're comfortable with it/they ask. Trans people are potentially coming out every time they're seen if they don't pass well and that makes it a lot harder and emotionally draining.

 

In short, yes.

 

Yes it is.
These days people know what it means to be LGB, but the T is still misunderstood. And even then the common narrative given by the media doesn't match up for every transgender person. Many people think that trans men/women are just gay/lesbian people wanting to be straight. It confuses them when why they see as "straight man/woman" says they are a gay/lesbian trans man/woman.

 

For me, it's been a lot harder to come out as trans than as bi, not just because people are more ignorant about trans issues, but because it's more fundamental to how they see you. When you tell people you like people of more than one gender, they generally still see you as fundamentally the same person. It is a lot harder for people to overcome having to see you as a new gender. Gender is generally thought of as one of the main, fundamental traits a person has. It tends to be a bigger deal to get used to the change.

 

My mom said to me "this would be so much easier if you were gay." So in my case gender was a much bigger deal to my parents, and also to me—sexuality, I used to be squicked out by and did not want to think about, but I'm OK not really putting a label on it. To me it's no big deal.

 

Yes it is. But it also pisses me off how heaps of people think transgender is the same as sexuality and put them in the same box even though they are COMPLETELY BLOODY DIFFERENT THINGS. I reminded my mum the other day that my cousin wanted to be called they and them. After she kept going on about how that doesn't make sense so she won't call them that, she then asked me if I thought HE was gay? (As well as wanting to know if they had asked to be called a girl and a whole lot of other irrelevant poop that I was glad my cousin wasn't hearing):eusa_doh::tantrum::dry:

And when I came out as transgender, I found out a few weeks later that she had told her friend who is a lesbian about me and that lesbian friend had written a big email to her to pass on to me saying about how some butch women wear men's clothes because they are not comftable with the idea of being lesbian or some shit like that. :***:I would say that is an example of transphobia in the queer community :bang:
Baaaahhhhhhhhh

 

Holy shit, is your mom my mom? Mine said those exact words.

 

For me personally, coming out as non-binary was by far harder than coming out as bi, even though I'm only out as both to my parents. Coming out as bi, yes, I did cry, but in the end it wasn't really a big deal, I just like boys and girls, okay, that's that.
Coming out as non-binary was so much harder cause it came with a pronoun change. It has been a couple days since I said 'I'm non-binary, call me 'they' instead of 'she' please' and my parents refuse to try, but I'm hopeful that they'll come around and start trying and eventually get used to it.

 

I think it will be more difficult for my mom to accept I'm transgender because she raised me on her own and changed my diapers and saw me (in her eyes) as a perfectly happy, healthy, "normal" little girl.

She's going to have a hard time accepting just my word for it when I come out. :\

 

When you come out as gay, you don't need to have hormones, a new bathroom, or anything like that. You just bring your date to dinner.

 

Definitely. People have to view you with a whole new lens. New pronouns, new name, new bathroom, new social treatment overall. You might even take hormones or get surgery done. It doesn't really help that a lot of people still have no idea how to deal with us. Generally being gay or bi seems to be much more accepted.