Hey family!
Um, I have some important news to share with you all and I thought that a video would be
the quickest and the easiest way to get it all out there to all of you at once.
Uhm, but I've been doing a lot of soul searching and therapy lately, and I recently found out
that I'm transgender.
So I guess first of all, what does that mean?
Well transgender just means that I don't identify with the gender I was assigned at birth.
Uhm, so when we're born, the doctor's, you know they take a look at us, they take a look
at our bodies and they say "okay you're either male or you're female" and then the rest of
our lives we're told what that means for our gender.
Uhm, so I'm sure you remember what I was like when I was a little kid.
I had really short hair, I wore boys clothes, uhm, I was into more stereo-typically masculine
things like Legos and skateboarding.
And that was always where I felt most comfortable even though uhm, y'know with my gender, the
way that my body was, y'know I was supposed to be into more feminine things.
But my whole life I've felt different from other girls and women, and for a while I thought
it was because I'm gay, but I didn't really feel like I fit in with gay women either,
even though I really tried hard to find community there.
Because of how I've always felt inside, especially concerning gender, I found myself recently
thinking that if I had just been born a boy, things would be so much easier.
That was a real lightbulb moment for me and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out
what exactly that meant.
And part of what I did was I read books and I watched YouTube videos of other transgender
people and I started to realize that my experience was really mirroring theirs in a lot of ways.
And deep down, I've just always felt like a boy even though I spent the last 10 or so
years really trying to squash that out of me.
I grew my hair out, I tried to shop in the women's section, and I gave it a real college
try, but in the end, it's just not who I am.
Okay so, I've explained a little bit about what it means to be transgender, but what
does that mean specifically for me?Well, it means that I'm going to be going through a
physical and social transition from female to male.
My physical transition will mostly happen through Testosterone injections, and I actually
learned quite a bit about the role of Testosterone and found the science actually be really interesting.
So this is for you, grandpa!
But in utero we all start out as female and the presence of Testosterone is what turns
a female fetus into a male fetus and technically female sex organs are just underdeveloped
male sex organs, which is just really fascinating to me.
So I'll be taking Testosterone injections every week, which will change the appearance
of my body.
So, my voice is gonna get deeper and also probably crack a lot because I'll be going
through a second puberty, and my body fat is gonna redistribute itself into a more masculine
figure, uhm I'll grow more body hair, probably some facial hair, but it is possible that
I'm gonna lose a little hair on my head, which will be just new and interesting.
So, I was recently diagnosed with something called "Gender Dysphoria" which just means
that my female body makes me feel very dysphoric, or like something isn't quite right.
And actually, I looked up the dictionary definition of "dysphoria" for this video, and it means
"a state of mental discomfort or suffering."
And I've struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my life, but I didn't really realize
that my body dysphoria was making it so much worse.
Actually, right before I made the decision to transition, I was really depressed and
I was really suicidal, and in a lot of ways I feel like this transition is really saving
my life.
So that's the physical stuff, but I'll also be going through a social transition.
I've started coming out to all of my friends and my doctors and the places I volunteer,
and they've all be using my new name and male pronouns for me, and treating me like a boy
instead of a girl.
And after coming out to all of you, the whole family, I pretty much just have work left,
and I'm in the process of working with HR right now and actually Thomson Reuters is
a really progressive company to work at and I really don't anticipate many issues at all,
which is just a huge load off my shoulders.
All right!
So that's the main thing!
I'm transgender and I wanted to tell you all in a way where I wasn't going to stumble over
all of my words, or if I did I could edit it out, and I also wanted to be able to tell
all of you in a very personal way, but also like all at once.
Because this is a really personal thing and I do wanna involve you in it, uhm and so I
just thought that a video would be a little bit more uhm, just more personal than an email.
And after I've been telling people, the main question I've been getting is "how can we
support you?"
Which is just so awesome and just proves that I have an amazing family and an amazing support
system, but really I need from you is to call me by my new name, which is Grant, and use
he/him pronouns to refer to me.
So for instance if you're wondering whether or not I'm coming to the lake, you might call
up my mom and say "Hey Sandi, is Grant coming this weekend?
We really miss him."
And also, I did pick a name that started with a G because I love when you all call me G,
and I hope that you continue to do so.
Now, I totally understand that this is a transition for all of us and so I expect we're all gonna
slip up here and there, even me.
I'm gonna do it too.
And so all I ask from you is that you try and that you do your best.
There are a lot of statistics out there about transgender people who's support system uses
their preferred pronouns and name uhm and the suicide rate decreases by 65% when that's
true.
And that makes a lot of sense to me and so I think that that just shows the importance
of trying.
Another question I hear a lot in general is especially from parents is "can my kid live
a happy life as a transgender person?"
And I want to answer that because yes.
Absolutely yes.
I think that transitioning is going to provide me with a kind of happiness and comfort that
I have never experienced before in my life, and so I'm actually really looking forward
to that.
Uhm, so that's it!
I'm Grant, and I'm your grandson, or your nephew, or your dude cousin, and I'm really
excited to go on this journey and I'm especially excited to be able to include all of you in
this.
If you have any questions, I highly suggest the documentary Gender Revolution.
It's on Netflix, it was done by Katie Couric, and it's awesome.
It's super informational and really great.
Otherwise, I'm more than happy to answer any burning questions you have or talk more about
gender anytime you want.
Or I'd also be happy to point you in the direction of resources if you want more information.
So that's it!
Thank you for watching, I love you all and I'm so happy and lucky to have such a supportive
and awesome family.
[sigh of relief]
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