So you have now decided to transition and be
the real you, not just a secret.
Well you have come to the right place for
information on my transition, and how it might help you to transition. I went
from male to female but the process is the same for female to male.
First I recommend two things one, buy a box
file for paperwork, and two, start generating a timeline starting as young as
you can remember feeling at odds in your body, for me I was five years old.
But for you it can be any time you realised it
was all wrong and someone or something had made a massive mistake with your
body.
(At this point I would like to say GOD doesn’t
make mistakes you are how GOD intended you to be… so if your religious or your
family are let’s get that out in the open now before I move on, I say this
because my family are Christians and church going, I tend not to bother GOD as
he appears quite busy with other goings on).
So once you have a timeline keep adding to it, documenting what you’re
doing and events that are important to your transition. You can thank me later…
At some stage of your transition you will have
to change your name by legal deed-pol, (in the UK) there are free sites out
there, just check that they are legally accepted as a lot are not. I went to a
solicitor and got an official deed-pol, but that was my choice.
You will need
to carry out your name change on everything that holds your old name, from bank
accounts to utility bills, council tax to store cards, passports and driving
licences everything.
The sooner you do this, and keep a record and any
evidence of it the better.
When you finally get your first appointment
with the gender clinic, if you can prove you have lived in your chosen gender
for a period of time, which should be able to do with your timeline document
this in theory should reduce the time you spend waiting to get the Clinics okay
for hormone treatment.
I was concerned with how I looked and I didn’t
want to be outed as a male transitioning to female, so look at what people of
your age group are wearing, and aim for something similar or a little understated,
if you want to blend into society fairly hassle free. For goodness sake don't overdo
things like make up or outlandish outfits. Just be
yourself and confident, keep your head
held high, going about your everyday business, if you look and feel confident in
your chosen clothes and makeup you will not stand out like a sore thumb, you
will be surprised as most people won't even notice you. Which means you’ve
passed as your chosen gender which in my case Female.
Transitioning is quite a long process but
assuming you have already reached the decision to transition let’s move on.
It’s best to visit your chosen General Practitioner
GP/Doctor, and ask to be referred to a gender clinic, you can normally choose
which one, but do bear in mind, you'll need to attend the Gender Identity Clinic
a lot of times during your transition, but tell your GP which gender clinics
you want to be under however, at present there isn't many to choose from in the UK.
It’s wise to ask the doctor for a copy of the
letter they send referring you to a GIC, (do you remember the box file I said
get at the beginning, stick it in there) unfortunately all too often I hear that
their GP/Dr 'forgot' to send the letter and they have lost 6 months waiting to
hear back from the GIC and lists are horrendously long as it is.
So at some stage you will need to tell your Family,
Employer, Work colleagues and Friends, be prepared as they might not react the
way you wanted or expected either from Family or friends ect. Remember it’s
taken you quite a while to get to this point… But explain everything to them,
how you feel and why you are doing it.
With some luck your family will come round, but
it may take some time for them to digest the news. Your employer will have a
duty under the law to accept your news (Equalities Act 2010 if you’re in the UK)
and deal with anything untoward from colleagues and co-workers. If you’re in a
trades union they are also are very helpful and are fully LGBTQ compliant with
current issues and the law etc. my Union was the GMB and were faultless in
helping me, as was the companies Unison’s rep which was nice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_Act_2010
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Recognition_Act_2004
