Name or Nick Name : Samanth0r
Country or City you are from: : Australia
Your Age : 23
Your Gender : Trans Womyn
What did you come out as? : Transgendered
What other words would you use to describe yourself? : Queer. I love that word.
Lesbian.
Dyke. This is actually my main identification.
How old were you when you first realised your identity? : around 19
How old were you when you first told someone? : Not till I was 21
Did you plan it? If so, how? : Well its a long story but I took my parents out to the theatre and had also written them an incredibly long letter.
The play I took them to see was ‘Twelfth Night’ because of all the genderfucking involved it seemed appropriate.
I hoped this would get them into the spirit of things so to speak. Then passed on my 2 page letter which summarised is the following:
“I’m a girl. no. really.”
Then I unplugged my phone for three days while trembling in fear!
What made you choose that person to tell? : Well they were my parents…
Can you remember exactly what you said? : no but it was probably something really amazing and poetic. we’re talking Mary Shelley levels of poetical here.
How did you feel? : Great!
What was the person’s reaction? : ‘no , you’re wrong’
‘how could this be’
‘are you sure?’
‘but you can’t be’
‘I’m angry’
‘I’m dissapointed’
etc etc they finally came around sort of in the last year or so..but I don’t think they will ever call me by my real name.
What did they say? : See above.
What was your relationship with the person like afterwards? : Well my parents and I are tenuous at best.
You could say they love me with money. (ts like prostitution without the sex or sleeze)
So we meet say hi, catch up.
Discuss our lives in an awkward manner and then they help me pay rent.
What’s it like now? : Same.
If you’ve been outed unwillingly, who did it? : A few of my friends after I went stealth as trans, which was incredibly disappointing.
Made me lose a little faith.
What happened? : Just told all their friends who then said stuff like ‘wow you’re so authentic’
I don’t need to be told ‘how much like a woman I am’
I am a woman. Nuff said.
What were peoples’ reactions? : Mainly okay. I’m lucky to live in an artsy very with it part of town.
If you’ve experienced homophobia etc, please give an example. : Had guys in cars scream at me and my girlfriend more than once for being dykes.
Usual stuff..thats about it really
Since coming out how out are you at school? : not_applicable
Since coming out, how “out” are you at work? : not_out
Since coming out, how “out” are you with family? : all_out
Since coming out, how “out” are you with your friends? : only_friends
What does being out mean to you? : I’m only out as a lesbian everywhere.
As trans? close friends know.
What differences, if any, did your cultural background make to your experience of coming out? : Well I come from the north london Buckinghamshire tea set.
So I had a very conservative upbringing and was quite naive.
I knew I was different from an early age but only learnt the word transsexual when I was about 18..
What does the concept of the closet mean to you? : Something full of DVD’s.
OHHH that kind of closet…
It means hiding yourself from the world. Being unable to show your true colours.
What advice would you give someone wanting to come out? : Just do it. Life will be happier for you in the long run.
It’s you’re life to live.
Live it as you should be.
If you could do it all again, would you do it any differently? If so, how? : Hell No.
Anything you want to add? : I’d like to thank Ulla for making up this website and for being a fantastic e-friend.
<3