It has been 6 1/2 years since I came out as transgender, here is my coming out story, and why the Pandemic of the year 2000 help me.
The reason why I came out as transgender
Well, this is a long story. Initially, I came out as bisexual after my niece faced trouble at school for being LGBT+. At that time, the only person who knew was my sister and my niece’s mother.
I was with my ex-partner at the time so I kept my transgender identity a secret until I discovered she was cheating on me, which led to our breakup.
This all happened six years ago last February just before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Being very femme during the Pandemic
I think everyone will agree the year 2000 was a bad year if you’re a social animal. For me however it was heaven since I am an introvert. I only go out as the mental health doc said it would be good for me to go out every once in a while.
I also happen to come out as transgender in that year, namely February, just before the first lock-down came into effect. This was perfect, as I went straight onto Temu to get all the short tight skirts and tight tops, with false boobs and no one saw how embarrassing my baby trans faze was.
A bit of advice for baby transgender people: spend as little as you can on clothes. You won’t be wearing them after a while as you will grow out of them. These days, I advise people to go to second-hand shops and get cheap clothes or go to sites like Temu or Shen.
First time in Public as a Transgender Woman
The first time I went out as a transgender woman was about four months after I started living as a woman in my home. The second person I told, and the first person who met me in person as a transgender woman, was a neighbour who is like a mother to me. She didn’t bat an eyelid and even said she had a feeling I was at least LGBT+. Her son is gay, so she has experience in knowing what to look for.
That day, I went into town and nothing serious happened. No one looked at me funny, even though I was dressed like a typical baby trans, like a teenager. I was 45 at the time. Looking back, I realise I looked stupid, but it’s part of the learning curve. I also bought my first clothes as my true self that day in a shop instead of online.
The effect of the Pandemic
Coming out during the pandemic was, in my view, the best time I could have come out as a transgender woman. Why? It gave me space. No one was allowed to leave their homes for a while apart from getting things like food. This meant I had time to adjust, and also meant shopping online was my only choice.
Sites like Temu were excellent. I know their clothes are not of high quality, BUT when you go through your ‘baby phase’ of being a transgender person, you go from one extreme to another. So you want to get cheap clothes. When baby transgender people ask for advice today, I say go to charity shops, as your style will definitely change widely over a short period of time.
For instance I bought things like skirts that were WAY too small for me, crop tops that no 45-year-old should wear, false boobs that was way to big for me, things like that.
I did all that behind closed doors, meaning I did not embarrass myself as much as I would have without the pandemic going on.
Conclusion
While the pandemic of the year 2000 was bad for the country, for the economy and for the amount of suffering it caused, it did give me the courage to come out as a transgender woman. Would I have done it if it hadn’t happened? I don’t know, to be honest.
I was so used to acting like a man, being unhappy with myself. I am glad I did come out. I have never been as happy as I am now with myself, but would I have had the courage if not for the pandemic? I honestly don’t know. The transgender people who have come out during normal times definitely have more courage than I did, that’s for sure.
Coming out is hard; it’s a life-changing event. You lose friends; family members don’t want to speak to you; you do get a lot of crap from strangers, especially online, but you have to be true to yourself. To every single transgender person today, I say this:
Congratulations for having the courage to be your true self.
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