Two years ago, my world came crashing down around me. Over the course of the next 4 months, my ever evolving world took an unexpected turn.
All it took was one question.
“Daddy, why do you like to wear girl clothes?” my oldest daughter asks via a FaceTime chat.
I was stunned. I wasn’t ready for this.
Even though I knew it was coming, I wasn’t prepared. I had delayed out of fear. I also wasn’t ready to deal with the aftermath of telling my church.
“Are you gay?”
“Were you molested as a child?”
“Why aren’t you seeing a Christian counselor?”
No. No. Hell no.
It was a tense exchange. No matter how much I tried to explain this was a good thing, I was met with a never ending stream of conspiracy theory laden reasoning and staunch opposition.
“Maybe Satan is using you.”
“Maybe Satan is going around you just to get to someone else.”
“Maybe you’re mistaken’”
Prayer begat promises of friendship and refuge.
Acting outside the boundaries of church doctrine, I was basically stripped naked and left out in the cold. For the first time in my church life I wasn’t allowed to participate, teach, or even advise. I wasn’t even allowed to explain why.
As much as this was pretty much a total suckass, God had other ideas.
I have always been a strong believer that the right people come into your life at the right time. Through a rather heated and emotion-filled conversation with my pastor, I was inadvertently introduced to someone who would give me guidance a… [Read more…] about Turning Suck into Succulence: Coming Out Trans