If you’ve been misgendered today, or told “you’ll never be a real <gender>”,
or told that your gender doesn’t exist, I’d like you to consider something:
Ever notice how almost any form of transphobia basically boils down to calling us “not real”?

Now, we as trans people risk our families, friends, financial stability, health, and sometimes our very lives in order to transition. Life asks us to be true to ourselves in a way that’s never asked of cis people. And there’s a kind of terrifying authenticity in that, a complete uncompromising dedication to be true to yourself, to be as real as a person can be, social conventions be damned!

Maybe that’s why they feel the need to constantly call us not-real; maybe we remind them of all the compromises they made in their own authenticity over the course of their lives?

Whatever the reason for their transphobia, know this:

You are more real than they could ever hope to be.