Trans

I feel like Australia is fairly apathetic to us. Probably because we generally dislike Americans and see the massive anti-trans movement as theirs. That's not to say we're accepting (I get plenty of disgusted looks from the cis and I'm in a progressive part of town), but it's more of a passive dislike, attempts to build a large, motivated movement have been unsuccessful.

There have been some failed attempts to start a culture war and politicise us, but our policies have remained largely sensible and accepting. Most of the country operates on an informed consent model, and youths are able to access puberty blockers through either the consent of their parents or the family court (in cases where the parents are bigots). To change my legal gender, all I needed was a note signed by my GP.

It's strange, because I feel like most of the population dislikes us (or at least condescends to us, thinking we're being taken advantage of by "big pharma"), however we've still let actual experts and advocates design policies.

Here in Minnesota my experience has been pretty good, at least in the urban areas. Not so much in rural areas.

And I unfortunately live in a rural area though. It's pretty much just grumpy old people here and they are extremely redneck, but they usually just ignore me. I ended up quitting my job at a small local store because there were certain people that made me feel like my life was in jeopardy every time they came in. Hot-headed extremely conservative old men that always had multiple visible guns on them, and they were always a pita to deal with.

The other thing that sucks is that ever since I realized that I'm queer I've had absolutely zero irl social life and that is a huge drain on me mentally. I wish I could drive to the city but the DMV here has been a hot mess ever since covid happened, although I finally got an appointment to take my test off of a cancellation. It's my 5th try (I know) but I'm so much more confident now since starting e. Hopefully I can pass and get out of the shitty town I live in.

I'm from the deep (very rural) south of the USA. I'm also a white trans man, which means my experiences are gonna be wildly different than that of a person of color, trans woman, or someone from a city.

The general attitude here is "don't ask, don't tell." Mind your own business, don't make a fuss (aka fight for human rights or injustices), and keep your head down and most people won't give you trouble. I would not feel safe or comfortable enough to hang up a pride flag.

It's an open secret within my extended family and church that I'm trans. Those are the two main places I get misgendered and dead named nowadays because they knew me pre transition and I just don't have the courage to officially come out to them. Even so, I know everybody knows on some level but most people don't understand the whole pronouns thing. Nobody tells me I'm going to hell or anything and I've sung in the men's choir since I joined it pre T. I don't bother because I'm about to move anyhow.

I've also isolated myself a lot in order to avoid potential transphobia here. The most transphobia I ever got on a daily basis was in public school from laws, administration, and some students. It was really bad. Some other students were nice and supportive, though. I had to homeschool myself to avoid all that.

Gender roles are generally strictly divided here. I feel a lot of pressure to strictly conform to male gender roles because it seems like nobody else plays around with them. You don't often see men with long hair or piercings or anything of that sort. Honestly, I don't feel like I'm being authentic with myself right now. It's better than it was pre transition, but still stifling. It's a very conformist society.

Non binary people just aren't a thing here. I don't mean to say that a non binary identity is invalid or that there aren't non binary people here, but they are widely not acknowledged or out to the public around here. When I was younger, I identified as nonbinary and had a pretty androgynous appearance. A lot of times in school people would be like "WHAT ARE YOU??? ARE YOU A BOY OR A GIRL??????" One time in a class while I was absent the teacher pulled up my school records so the students could see my sex assigned at birth because they kept asking about it. People don't know what nonbinary is a lot of the time.

The laws here are really bad, obviously. I have no legal protection against discrimination or hate crimes. I have to go to a different state to get my medication even though I'm a legal adult. Honestly though, most people aren't as hateful as the politicians pushing the laws. I've used the men's bathroom at a lot of different places and never got into any trouble, even though it's technically illegal.

The deep south actually has a very significant amount of queer people. I think most tend to congregate around big cities like Atlanta, New Orleans, and Huntsville, though.

I don't exactly hate it here. I wish people were more informed and the laws were better, but it's my home.

It's better than it used to be.

Very southern here too, mountain region, smallish town.

The local school system is 100% about protecting trans kids, thank whatever gods might answer. Zero tolerance policy for even verbal violence, and strong responses to harassment or social attacks.

The school my kid goes to in particular has a trans staff member, and displays the gamut of flags in the guidance offices. The guidance staff in particular bust their asses to keep students on track and being as restrained as you can get the savages we call teenagers. There's a bible club, but there's a policy to avoid any anti-anything subject matter, and there's an active (if small) lgbtq club.

Compared to when I was growing up in the eighties? Holy fuck are things better.

But I've still had to raise hell a few times at adults outside of school. You still get shitty jokes and snide comments made when people assume you're going to either just not say anything or agree. The ones that just assume you're going to agree with whatever bigotry they spew are the worst, but they're slowly learning to at least keep their mouths shut if they can't say something nice.

But that's still a big change from seeing a trans woman get literally laughed out of a store not twenty years ago. There's enough allies now that will stand up that that kind of bullshit won't end well for the person pulling it.

It ain't perfect, and it ain't great, but it gives me hope that time will show the better parts of humanity here and elsewhere.

Btw, just as a view into the culture from another angle, as small as this town is, there's a pink pistols club, and one of the ranges happily hosts them for the monthly shoots, including when they have a "welcome home" shoot for trans folks. May seem strange to anyone not in the south, or part of the various "armed queer" movements, but there's a sizable amount of shooters vpn the lgbtq community here.

And it actually does help mitigate some of the assholes because there's that point of connection that helps bridge between the nore conservative sorts that aren't full on right wing, which leads to a cushion where they end up being accidental allies via speaking the truth about their experience "shootin with the gays".

That quote, btw, is from my uncle, who says he "Don't mind it a'tall, them gay boys just shoots like anybody, and ain't afeared to borry you some ammo." Mind you, he calls anyone that isn't a lesbian, including trans people of both primary genders "gay boys". He's trying lol.

I didn't feel safe to start my transition until I was able to escape Texas. I'm in Colorado now and it's a night-and-day difference.

Sadly, everything LGBT related in my country is illegal and heavily frowned upon, especially being trans.

I remember hearing about a trans woman being beat up in a taxi (I forgot which city it happened in), and everyone was cheering.

Other than that, they basically refuse to acknowledge your new gender and insist that it's whatever was assigned to you at birth.

And there is no support for the trans community (or even the broader LGBT community) at all in my country. Not even a little bit.

This is just one reason among dozens, why I hate Morocco.

I grew up in a country where gay and trans rights do not exist and where people in those communities are heavily ostracised and treated like they're crazy. No legal recognition, no means of transitioning, no posting about it on social media, nothing

I moved to the UK nearly 8 years ago to start living my life, and the UK is... well. I'll start off by saying that it's infinitely better about trans people than where I come from. But I don't think it's good about trans people on the whole.

'Legal' transition only matters for the terms you are referred to in legal documentation around marriage/parenthood, and whether or not you need to tell the tax body your AGAB. A name change (which includes your title) is trivial. To fix the other stuff, you have to get letters from doctors and fill out a form and pay a fee and wait a while for some mysterious council to decide if you're trans enough. I think most people don't bother.

Medical transition is very inaccessible, and I suspect I'm privileged in that I got through the waitlist back when it was a few years for an appointment, and not basically indefinite. Doctors agreeing to actually prescribe your HRT after that entire dance is hit or miss, although the majority would continue to prescribe patient who has already been on it for a while, in my experience anyway.

The UK is also a bit insane on anti-trans media. That's the only thing I didn't have to deal with back home, lol (because trans people are not recognised or talked about) I can't see a reason for being under the media's crosshairs than being an easy scapegoat for the ruling political party to distract voters from real systemic issues that actually need fixing.

Well, i have two, both badly 😂

"Gen z" s doing the change though for one of them. 😅😃😊

Not z lawl

I am a political wedge issue.