March 31st is International Transgender Day of Visibility and I did exactly that. I'd been saying on my Dave Facebook account that I'm transgender since last October. But until today I've never posted a photo or indicated I've changed my name and gender legally. I was up early (kind of sleepless I guess) and posted my photo, changed my name and gender and let people know they could no longer say they didn't know a Transgender person. They've known one as long as they've known me and if they stuck around for that long, they might as well understand I'm actually pretty normal.
The response has been positive so far with lots of love and respect and claims that I'm brave. On that last one I just waited out the negative risks and finally saw no significant problem. I expect some of the "friends" will be drifting away from me, but the core family and friends are with me and those others won't be missed (we probably disagreed on politics as well).
As we always seem to say, Your Mileage May Vary, but this has been a good day for me and sets the table for B.A. next week. Moving quickly for an old gal, but I've been greasing the skids for years.
Best wishes to those who can be visible today and no judgement patience to those who need to remain under the radar. I hope the path forward for all of us is smoother because of days like this.
