Have You Changed Yet?

We live in a world where trans people are constantly being asked to change to accommodate the already comfortable. Because 98.8% of the population does not undergo a profoundly, life-altering change, about half this population has a hard time understanding basic human decency and respect. They put the onus on the trans person, deflecting the responsibility to change with the person who has undergone a life-altering change like you would with any other change. 

While some trans people integrate parts of their past selves into their identity, others are okay with letting the past die. Still, others have little memory of it or have different perspectives from those who remember them otherwise. Remember when you scolded your children for taking a picture of your one son in a dress and not the other one you would later realize was a boy? Why do we shame men so much in culture for expressing queerness or alternate masculinity, even as little boys.  

This other queer boy has grown comfortable with himself. He understands that he does not have to change his personhood for anybody and that it is other people’s bodies that are inviolable. He can say no, even when all others doubt him. He believes in the enthusiastic yes. He is realness unmasked. 

Have you changed yet?