A
Anonymous (c107)
Guest
So, here's the situation. I (41 yr old) am going to be starting HRT / GAHT soon. Only a few close friends know. Well, now you know. But you don't know who I am. (Except the admins...
) How do I know? Have I done therapy yet? Nope! My state has "informed consent" and there's a website that you can subscribe to that will manage your HRT treatment and provide that informed consent. Not listing it here in case that gets me dinged. And not important to the overall topic. Any who... I will subscribe to there next month AFTER my parents have visited and left. And then you got to do the video call with them and get set up for blood work and all that wonderful stuff. So, I probably won't actually BE on HRT until sometime in June. And I'm going to schedule for therapy in August, hopefully.
But, why I am posting this is... I don't know how (or when) to reveal to family. And no, I don't live by them. But, I already know my mom does not agree with Gender Affirming Care. (I'm not going to dive into THAT here as I don't want this to start any political comments.) My dad would have a difficult time, but would accept it. Of this, I'm pretty sure. He's mellowed out a LOT since I was a kid. One brother and his wife would have the "WTF" attitude. The other brother, I think, would at least pretend to be OK with it. His wife, whom I don't talk to, would definitely be very opinionated. But, I don't care what she thinks. Some of my cousins would be OK with it. Don't know on the rest. My nieces... I honestly don't know how they would take it. I think the oldest would be OK, though she might find it weird.
In regards to friends, the ones I told all have been 100% supportive. One of my closer friends I am reluctant to tell because I don't think she'd take it well. She was very upset when her son transitioned years ago because she felt that she was "losing her son". She had 2 daughters and, for some reason, it was important for her to have a son. And now... Nope. So, I don't think she'd take it too well about my transitioning. Especially given that she and I dated for a short bit years ago. There are lots of friends. Some I feel would be perfectly OK, but I'm only slowly telling people.
So, now that all of *THAT* is out of the way... How would you go about telling family when you are fairly certain some of them would react badly? Also, at what point would you tell them? I'm considering on waiting until the changes from HRT are full on obvious. Not like they'd know since they don't see me, but at that point I'd be forced to admit at work and I *KNOW* some of my direct coworkers are not entirely OK with transitioning. And, since I'm going to be working on training my voice, I'll end up using the new voice over the phone any way. Eventually.
... I think I rambled a bit. I'm sorry...

But, why I am posting this is... I don't know how (or when) to reveal to family. And no, I don't live by them. But, I already know my mom does not agree with Gender Affirming Care. (I'm not going to dive into THAT here as I don't want this to start any political comments.) My dad would have a difficult time, but would accept it. Of this, I'm pretty sure. He's mellowed out a LOT since I was a kid. One brother and his wife would have the "WTF" attitude. The other brother, I think, would at least pretend to be OK with it. His wife, whom I don't talk to, would definitely be very opinionated. But, I don't care what she thinks. Some of my cousins would be OK with it. Don't know on the rest. My nieces... I honestly don't know how they would take it. I think the oldest would be OK, though she might find it weird.
In regards to friends, the ones I told all have been 100% supportive. One of my closer friends I am reluctant to tell because I don't think she'd take it well. She was very upset when her son transitioned years ago because she felt that she was "losing her son". She had 2 daughters and, for some reason, it was important for her to have a son. And now... Nope. So, I don't think she'd take it too well about my transitioning. Especially given that she and I dated for a short bit years ago. There are lots of friends. Some I feel would be perfectly OK, but I'm only slowly telling people.
So, now that all of *THAT* is out of the way... How would you go about telling family when you are fairly certain some of them would react badly? Also, at what point would you tell them? I'm considering on waiting until the changes from HRT are full on obvious. Not like they'd know since they don't see me, but at that point I'd be forced to admit at work and I *KNOW* some of my direct coworkers are not entirely OK with transitioning. And, since I'm going to be working on training my voice, I'll end up using the new voice over the phone any way. Eventually.
... I think I rambled a bit. I'm sorry...