It didn't even start as a "coming out" post. It started as the anniversary of my quitting a high-stress, low-paying job a year ago. I started listing all the changes that have happened in my life since then, and it was a natural progression to coming out as transgender (bi-gender). I had been leading slowly into it, posting more about transgender issues lately. I was testing the waters and getting the basic information out there so I didn't have a lot of explaining to do about what bi-gender is, and the causes of transgender. It read like "ally" stuff, and very scientific. But then that's how I think. Everything must be explained by science first. I came out to my immediate family in late February, and to uncles and aunts and such in April. I knew I was going to come out on Facebook soon, probably by the beginning of summer, but this actually caught me by surprise. It seemed natural. I did, however, note how many "friends" I had on Facebook just before I posted. I like to think I surround myself with open-minded accepting people, and this will be a test of that. We'll see how many I lose. So far I have a lot of "likes" and "loves" and one comment about me being set free. I'm not out socially in "real life." Most of the people in the town where I live know me by my professional (first given) name and are Facebook friends with my professional account. The one I came out on is my personal account (middle given) name is mostly unknown by locals.
Congratulations, Cailan! That was a courageous thing to do, regardless of whether you intended to do it at first or not! I'm very glad that the initial responses you are getting are so positive!
It takes a lot of courage to do something like that. Even though I know that I look clearly out from the way I dress (stereotypical trans look, probably mistaken for soft butch lesbian), I still haven't officially outed myself on fb
So far one person unfriended me. I can't even figure out who is was. Probably no loss there. Otherwise I'm getting a lot of "likes" and "loves" and supportive comments. The most "negative" reactions I've had was a lack of response to the letters I sent to my aunt, uncles and brothers. One uncle immediately called to offer support and wants to visit this summer. Oddly enough, he's the dad to my most judgemental and idiotic fundie Christian cousins. I think they embarrass him sometimes. I was disappointed by the lack of response from my aunt, but then she's going through some serious family shit right now and may simply not have the energy to deal with it. And I'm not that close to my brothers, who are MUCH younger than me and we never had much of a relationship because of our extreme age differences, and because I've lived in a different state from them most of their lives. They may have just read the letters, filed away the information in their minds, and moved on.