I look at this picture of a 7 year old girl looking happy. Gracie socially transitioned to a girl at the age of 4 years old. That’s the same age I told my mom that I didn’t feel like a boy.

For me, that didn’t go so well. My mom said it was okay that I felt that way. She said she knew a boy in high school that felt the same way, and that the boy had a life filled with girls things, and that everything would be okay.

But that was the end of that discussion. That’s all I can remember.

 I have no memories of any more heart to heart talks or my parents seeking out help of any kind.

I do have a memory of being brutally spanked by my father and berated by my brother and sisters. After that life’s early memories are kind of a blur.

I didn’t care so much about anything after that. I didn’t care about school, I didn’t care about making friends. What was the point. To a young child, if you feel you can’t do what you really feel you need to do, if you are told NO to your basic state of being, then what’s the point of trying.

I’m going on 50 years old now and nothing has changed. I still feel like I’m not a man. I have interests in all things female. I have led an unhappy life of presenting as a male.

This is what the world wants for me? This is what the world wants for those poor 4 year old children who don’t feel a congruent gender identity? That is so messed up.

In my twenties I thought what would be the harm of having more variations of humans on Earth? Why can’t there be women who are men, and men who are women? What is the harm?

Now as an adult, I see that there wouldn’t be any harm.

It can’t be an all inclusive world because of politics. There has to be “boogey-men” to scare the conservative voters to get out to the polls and make the bigots wealthy. The big picture is all about money and power.

The politicians can’t portray a large group of the population as “boogey-men”, it doesn’t work. There’s too much resistance. That causes all out war. But small minority groups? That works and has worked very well since the dawn of man. Divide and conquer.

If there was no such thing as money, wealth, class, then there would be no reason to portray minority groups as villains. We would all be equal.

Just a thought.