I had a private message conversation with one of my friends here and she warned me about the likelihood of wavering commitment from those who initially pledge their support when we come out. I have reported earlier that as my friends go, I have been extremely fortunate to have received verbal messages of support in every case. My family initially did the same, but how quickly things change. Several male members of my family have wavered significantly since that initial supportive conversation. My brother (and my relatively new, rather shortsighted sister-in-law) have been highly critical about me in private to my father and step-mother, so much so that my step-mother has said announced she will no longer engage in such conversations about me if they will be all harsh, critical personal attacks. My 78-year-old father, on the other hand, was initially supportive, but then quickly retreated in that support, but is now slowly coming back around to openly talking with me again. (Family-wise, these are all phone conversations, as I am living on the opposite side of the North American continent from my family.) I make sure to NOT bring up my TG issues with him, if only to demonostrate that this is not the only thing in my life and it does not solely define who I am -- I am still the same child I always was, but only now they know my truth. I also have one older friend who, while initially pledging his support, has seemingly more or less shunned me since that conversation.
So I wanted to pose this question to the members of this forum. What were your experiences with people who were initially giving lip service to being supportive but then drifted away (or perhaps became more overtly hostile) as your transition became more physically obvious? And to the contrary, did you experience anyone who was initially hostile who eventually came around and re-established a relationship with you? I have only even accepted myself as trans for the 7 months of 2015, and publicly, I only started coming out since February (and I am still coming out -- I finally came out to the last group on my list, my teammates at work, just today). I'd love to hear your stories, to learn what you experienced as a means for me to understand I might really be facing in terms of true personal loss as I continue down this road (not that it will change anything, as there is no turning back for me). Thank you for sharing!
Karen