The LGBTQ+ Community Topic

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This is such an incredible and insightful description of how you feel. I’m glad you feel comfortable enough to share this.

For me, I realized I was non-binary just last year. It was after I started college and finally had a lot of alone time with my thoughts and I realized some things about myself, including the fact that I have never really considered myself to be “a man,” so to speak. I did even consider the possibility of being a trans woman, though ultimately came to the conclusion that I’m gender fluid. After that I just started saying Non-binary because it’s a little easier to explain, and it ultimately doesn’t matter that much to be. I’m just happy “being not a man,” so to speak.

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15

That’s it
That is
Exactly what I was like for the first half of this year
I couldn’t have summed it up better (I’ve tried to)

Interestingly, this is one aspect of girlhood I actually have no vested interest in. Like, even if I were to fully transition, I don’t want to wear a dress. I personally don’t care for how they look, or the thought of wearing one.

That was definitely a doubt for some time – “what, you think you want to be a girl but then you don’t want to wear ‘girl clothes’?” is a thought I’ve had.

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16

Well this topic caught my attention when I did my periodic “did anyone ping me” check, so I guess I’ll drop a comment.

Back in 2015-ish, I thought I was transgender. That’s…uh…not all that surprising, to be entirely honest. The Bionicle (and for my specific case, also Warframe) community seems to have been quite the source of eggs, and this topic seems to be supporting that analysis.

Anyway, as “I thought” implies, I’m not. Reality ended up being something a lot more in-between. For me it’s a pendulum swing. I flip-flop between feeling masculine and feeling feminine, so I most identify with being genderfluid. I don’t really go with “nonbinary,” since people most commonly associate that with neutral pronouns, and really, I don’t care enough to bother with that - he, she, they, it’s all the same to me. I’m not really “out” to anyone IRL for that reason - it’s largely just something I keep to myself, since I don’t really mind being referred to as a “guy,” and in a lot of cases it would largely just complicate stuff - especially since I live in the South, if you catch my drift there. As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve ever even acknowledged it in a public space that can be traced back to my IRL identity by…well, anyone. As an amusing side realization: anyone from the old days probably isn’t terribly surprised to read any of this, given that Entropy was specifically designed to be androgynous, with very intentionally effeminate features. Which I suppose is terribly unsurprising given that he was designed in 2015 when, as mentioned, I thought the feminine part of my back-and-forth was a more permanent fixture. I’m also bi, which I’ve known for significantly longer, but I feel like that one’s a lot more common, especially within the circle of people I regularly interact with.

At any rate, something I think many participants so far in this topic can probably agree with: Facial hair sucks. Holy crap. Please, stop growing, you abomination. You’re getting lasered the instant I have the financial freedom to do so.

Side note, I didn’t know they added the ability to see when someone’s typing on a topic. That’s weird. Not sure how to feel about it :thinking:

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17

Oh my gosh, YES!!! It’s especially annoying for me because it just grows in so darn fast! Whenever I hear people complain about their facial hair growing in slowly I’m just like, “you wanna trade?”

My turn for a side note, I just sneezed which caused me to bite my tongue, and holy cow did it hurt.

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Preferences → interface → “Hide my public profile and presence features” if you want to get rid of that. Will also block access to your profile, though. I’ve done it if you want a comparison.

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19

That idea of “Whatever I am I don’t want to be a man” is something I definitely get. Even in my year of denial I still strongly disliked thinking of myself as a man in any meaningful way.

I definitely get that. One thing I’ve learned a lot is that there’s a million different ways to be trans or even just to be a woman. And none of them are any more or less valid than any other. Even as I’m becoming more confident in myself, I still intend on keeping to my usual casual get up most of the time. Saving the skirts and dresses for wearing at home or the occasional special occasion.

Though that’s largely because I’m not confident enough yet to even try to present feminine in public. Despite the fact that I’ve hung out with two different trans-femmes in public and they never got any flack for the way they dressed.

And speaking of doubts, a big one for me was a lack of dysphoria. I never hated my body or anything about it. And that made me think that I was less valid somehow. “Is this really what you want when you’re fine as you are?” But I learned that it’s much more useful to measure yourself by positive feelings like gender euphoria, rather than negative feelings. It’s because of the feelings I get putting on dresses or seeing my face made to look like a woman’s that really reaffirm, this is exactly who I am, and there’s no changing that.

Though ironically as time has gone on and I’ve become more confident in myself, I’ve found myself becoming more and more dysphoric and unsatisfied with my body.

Same here. 100%. That and my body hair in general. It’s a tedious and annoying process to shave off, and grows back like weeds just a few days later. I’m planning on saving up for a hand heald IPL device and just obliterating it all off my body for good.

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20

It’s not even that I don’t want to be a man, for me it’s just that I know I’m not. Like, whenever someone says “ugh, I hate men,” and then do some form of apology to me, the apology is completely unnecessary, because I know I’m not a man, so it doesn’t apply to me. It’s very weird.

Actually, that reminds me of how I started to question my identity. A friend of mine was talking about how all men find Ryan Reynolds attractive, mostly as a joke, and I was like “I honestly don’t find him that attractive,” and she was like, “well that’s because your not a man” and that kinda confused me so I said, “then what am I?” And she was like, “you’re just you.” That’s what really got me thinking about my identity.

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This is kinda similar to the first time I got that “confirmation,” for me, about what I felt like I was. I was talking with my friend - who is, for context, incredibly and aggressively asexual, to the point he prefers not to hear about anything even vaguely related - and I made some joke about “well don’t worry, this is a girl day anyway.” And he sat there, thought for a moment, and responded with “This just makes sense to me, and I don’t know why.” It was the first time I’d ever really gotten confirmation that this wasn’t just something I’d convinced myself of and that it was something people other than me could pick up on and understand.

Thanks much! I don’t think I’ll enable that, since my profile is about the only way I think people would have of finding me if they needed to for…some reason, honestly I can’t think of why…but it’s nice to know it’s there.

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Surprised to see this topic hadn’t existed yet and so many of y’all are so supportive of each other, Maybe there’s hope for humanity after all.

Not even a part of the LGBTQ+ community but I hard agree.

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On a personal note, I’m getting some progress on my transition. I called Planned Parenthood to try and schedule an appointment to try and start hrt. Unfortunately they’re completely booked up from now till the next month. However I got a chart set up so they’ll be able to more easily access my info, and the woman I talked to recommended a better date for me to call when their upcoming schedule opens up.

So it’s not exactly ideal, but it’s still progress! And I’m really excited about it!

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I was a bit worried that there would be some backlash to this topic when it was first made, but so far everything has been super positive! I’m glad that people are sharing their experiences and all that stuff. I’m not a part of the community myself, but I know a few people who are, and seeing that there are so many types of people on the boards is great.

facial hair that grows beneath the nose: not good

facial hair that grows above the nose: good

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25

Any you’d be comfortable sharing?

Some things I’m aware of:

As mentioned before, I have no desire to wear “girl clothes”. I don’t care for how they look, on others even.
I’m sure someone could purport that I’ve been influenced by my friends. But no one has tried to convince me to be trans, or said I should be. This topic is the first time I have spoken of even the idea of me being trans to anyone but myself.

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Well I’m really glad that I’ve created a space where you feel comfortable enough to talk about yourself. It makes me really happy to know that through my actions, others are able to open up like this.

As for the misconceptions, there are a few I can remember off the top of my head.

For one my mom couldn’t get past the fact that I was coming out at 19, when she was convinced that trans people somehow knew all their life that something was wrong, and I never acted like that. I never “Showed any signs”

Both my parents were afraid that my trans friends somehow talked me into it. Which was particularly insulting because 1. That’s obviously not how it works, and 2. They acted like I wasn’t thinking for myself. Like I would let others dictate who I am and wasn’t seriously thinking things through.

And my dad especially treated the whole thing like I was making a misguided choice. He would talk to me and say he thought I was just confused, and that this came from me being lonely. (Romantically speaking. Mind you I realized I was trans not too long after a really tough break up)

Thankfully they’ve both moved past anything like this. But it was still really frustrating and irritating to put up with at the time. And that also doesn’t mean everything is perfect. But at least they’ve both accepted that this is who I am, and nothing is going to change about it. (Even if my dad still doesn’t really know how to handle it)

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oh no, they found me out

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29

All you did was shout at me and call me an egg. Don’t go trying to take all the credit.

I have incredibly exciting news!!! After multiple calls to Planned Parenthood and lot of patience, I finally have an appointment scheduled to star hrt! I’m so excited!!!

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That’s awesome!

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Thanks! I’m absolutely thrilled to finally be taking this next step, and getting closer to really being happy with myself.

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That’s awesome, I love that for you! I hope it brings you great happiness!

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Nice, good luck with it.

knew it

Interesting.

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34

I JUST GOT PRESCRIPTIONS FOR HRT!!!
I am unbelievably excited! I am over the freaking moon!

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