What the Hell Do Trans People Have to Be Thankful for?

It would be highly presumptuous of me, or anybody else, to tell you to be thankful.

I don’t know you well enough to make such a demand. I don’t know what burdens you carry, but I know if you’re transgender, you carry more than your share.

Being trans, it’s likely you’ve faced the embarrassment of being misgendered and borne the brunt of insults. You may have been humiliated by someone at work when you show up in gender-affirming clothes. Or, worse yet, lost a job for that reason.

You may look on in fear at the institutional assault on our freedoms and rights and the prevailing climate of hate that permeates American society.

There is a very good chance you are estranged from people you once thought to be friends and people who share your DNA. It’s because of them you’ve learned that family isn’t always determined at birth but can be chosen.

And yet, all that is worth the gift of living the gender you were meant to have.

It’s the one thing all of us here share: the acceptance of our true self. At the top of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Self-Actualization, and you have attained it.

When you wake up in the morning, you no longer have to put on the facade of the erroneous gender you were assigned at birth. You can look in your mirror and be proud of yourself. Despite all the shit (pardon me!) you put with each day, you have the calming sense of being the person you always knew was inside you.

Cling to that. Hold tight to your decision of starting upon your transition. It was a bold, life-saving step. While others in society remain in stasis, unchanging, unhappy with the person they’ve become, you’ve cracked out of your shell and burst forth in full glory. Triumphant!

Is all of this enough to make you thankful on Thursday? I don’t know; I don’t know you that well.

But it’s something; it’s a lot. And it’s more than most people ever enjoy in their lives.