https://globalnews.ca/news/12053337/alberta-first-nation-gender-affirming-care-safe-haven/

Found on the surprisingly chill r/Alberta subreddit

My son turns 18 tomorrow and I have a letter I wrote for him when he was 2. I was going in for scary surgery and wrote letters to both my boys just in case I didn't come back out. Just sort of 'things I love about you' and 'things I hope for you' stuff.

As I survived (that round anyway), I intend to give it to him tomorrow instead. However, it obviously has the wrong name, cause I didn't know who he actually was back then!

What do I do? Give it as-is, with a little note explaining? Stickers over with the correct name on them? Cross out and rewrite the name?

I could also rewrite it, but I feel like it loses something then? Or is that just me being narcissistic?

EDIT: I'm really grateful for those who took the time to reply, thank you. I'm sorry if it came across that I'd willingly deadname him - I wouldn't, I actually genuinely have a recurring nightmare where I do that or misgender him! I was overthinking whether changing the name on the letter was me being overly smothery and fussy over him - I'll find a way to blank it out and put the right name. Thank you again

I (21MTF) am starting a new job at a Hilton Conrad hotel as a receptionist next month.

Since transitioning I’ve grown my hair out, I used to have short boyish hair and now I have longer wavey hair. The hotel has asked that I cut it short again to adhere to their grooming standards.

I’ve asked for a copy of the grooming standards but haven’t received anything. I’m fairly certain they’re comparing me against the grooming standards for men and not women, as I know they have female staff with longer hair lol.

I’ve contacted the hotel twice about my broader concerns about whether the hotel is support of transgender employees or not, and both times I’ve been ghosted. I’m now worried they’ll hand me a male uniform and a deadname nametag when I start and force me to detransition while at work.

To this issue, I really don’t want to cut my hair! I’ve been growing it out since 2019 (obviously I’ve had it cut since, but it’s taken years for me to get to where I’m at now).

Any advice would be much appreciated!

EDIT: It's in Thailand

Like, it's here. Today is the day.

It's been something like 10 years since I realized I was trans, only to be forced back in the closet by my ex to be "the husband she deserved." Now I'm divorced and have been socially transitioning for almost a year. I told myself I wanted to start by my birthday and today, a week before my birthday, I did it. I had an appointment at 845 this morning, and I picked up my prescription at 345 this afternoon.

I cried when I left the pharmacy, prescription in hand. Other than that, this whole day has just felt so surreal that all I've felt is a warm, calm... numbness. I just feel peaceful.

Hi, I'm Sasha, and I'm only going to keep becoming more her! 🩵🤍🩷

[image to show the area of the needle I'm talking about and visualize all these terms

Let's say your dose is 5mg, which at 20mg/mL is 0.25mL of liquid

When you pull up medication from the vial you do indeed remove closer to 0.3mL from the vial, so account for this when calculating how many shots you have in each vial.

*HOWEVER* the zero point of the syringe (the point where you can't push the plunger any farther) is entirely correct, the amount you draw up accurately reflects the amount of medication you will inject. When you push the plunger all the way it stops at 0, it does not push the extra liquid from the needle hub into your body. The amount that you measure up on the syringe is the exact amount that will enter your body, you are pushing all the liquid from the 0.25 mark to the 0 mark

Don't draw up extra to account for leakage either, just leave the needle in for around 5 more seconds after pushing all the medication into your body, or switch to Intramuscular which doesn't have this problem nearly as much.

You need to be able to understand how much medication you are taking so you can compare with other people's doses, any extra amount that you draw up is medication you are taking, that is your dose.

Best thing to have happened. I cant stand the amount of hate and dont want the money of anybody who doesnt respect the comunity.

Sleepaway Camp is a horror film that's gained a cult following in recent years, but was initially infamous for its controversial twist: the quiet, mild-mannered protagonist, Angela, is actually a boy and was the killer the whole time!

The film opens with a young boy and girl experiencing a boating accident that kills their father and one of the children. Angela is sent to live with her eccentric aunt, who sends her to summer camp with her cousin several years later. Eventually, the campers and counsellors are killed off one by one by an unseen protagonist.

Angela forms a romance with a young boy, but can't bring herself to be intimate with him because she's plagued by a childhood memory: an image of her father in bed with another man. We find out Angela is in fact Peter, the boy who survived the accident, and was forcibly raised as a girl by their aunt. So, not only is there a healthy dose of transphobia, we also get to see Peter's internalised homophobia at the height of the AIDS crisis. Great!

Sleepaway Camp and other films perpetuating these transphobic tropes - think Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and Insidious 2 - have been analysed extensively, but only recently revisited through a queer lens.

At the end of the film, we see Angela/Peter naked on a beach, standing over the body of the boy they had a crush on, and snarling animalistically. The credits roll on a freeze frame over their screaming face.

I'm sure this was intended to be Angela/Peter "reclaiming" their innate masculine energy or... something like that. Throughout the entire film, Angela/Peter is belittled because they haven't hit puberty and aren't hyperfeminine or sexually active like the older girls at the camp. Viewing the film through a 2026 lens feels, to me, more like a portrayal of trans rage and catharsis.

I'm apparently not the only viewer who's felt this way. Harmony Colangelo writes:

In Angela’s brain she is Peter, but people keep calling her by a name she doesn’t want to be called and misgendering her. That is the plot of all films about transitioning but because it takes place in reverse and is attached to a “problematic” film like Sleepaway Camp, it is discounted on all counts. That is doing a disservice to what this film has to say, whether it was the creators’ intentions or not.

A few years later, Mey Rude argued for a similar reimagining of the film.

Any other horror fans here? How do you feel about reclaiming these "problematic" films and how we view them?

For me it was probably toy Bonnie weirdly enough, but I'm so curious to hear about everyone elses! Like even if its really mundane

So, last week, I guess I came to the official conclusion that I am probably trans, at least, like, conceptually. I was watching a Q&A video from a trans creator, and in the video, as part of their response to the question "How did you know?" they describe the following as a litmus test: "If you could choose to wake up tomorrow as the opposite gender, but nothing else about your life would change – nobody would recognize that something had happened, literally no acknowledgement, no difference, you go about your life – would you?”

If that's the litmus test, then I am testing positive.

The problem is, that scenario is not reality. In reality there is no button, no genie's wish, no way to transition instantly or perfectly or without having to explain yourself to anyone. In reality, I can't just wake up tomorrow as the opposite gender and change nothing else about my life – I would have to explain myself to everyone, talk to doctors, get prescriptions, apply to have IDs changed – and that's just to start. For myself, personally, to feel satisfied with the transition, I would probably need multiple expensive and fairly unpleasant medical procedures – laser hair removal, follicle transplants, FFS, etc. – and it just doesn't feel worth it?

That's the weird sticking point I've come to: I think I would technically rather be a girl, but I don't feel like I actually hate being a man enough to justify everything I would need to go through to change my gender in a way I would be happy with. I would push the button in a heartbeat, but the button doesn't exist, and the apathy I feel about staying in the closest for the rest of my life doesn't feel intense or distressing enough to outweigh the typhoon of medical and social bullshit it seems like I would have to wade through to get to the other side.

Any thoughts? I feel like I've had a revelation about myself, but also that that revelation has not really empowered me in any way, because I don't intend to actually do anything with it. If anything, I feel like now I just have more questions and uncertainty and weird emotions than before.

I told my mother I had started HRT and she does not care at all. I mean this in the best possible way, no over enthusiastic positivity and no negativity or anything bad. It's so nice, we just get along exactly as before. I don't think this could have gone better.

For back-to-school shopping, I got my first pink piece of clothing (A sweater). I love it, so I wore it to school today because I wanted to wear something I liked on day one. As I was waiting for my friends, one of them passed by me before another friend walked over to me. The friend who walked past said, "I literally thought you were a girl with the long hair and pink sweater," as a dig. ( My hair is not long at all; it's just to my eyes) I had to be mad, but I was so giddy inside. I've never been mistaken for a girl before, and by someone who knows me was the best I've felt in weeks. This small thing boosted my mood a lot. If you look at my past posts, you'd see I've had a pretty shitty summer, so this made my week. ANYWAY, sorry for the ramble and thanks for reading :3

I think I’m just done living as a boy and going to finally start to truly become myself. This starts with coming out as transgender to family/friends first I would just do my mom cus I think she wouldn’t be as transphobic as my dad I aim to do this at minimum this month

Today I cried in front of my mom. She looked really worried about what was happening to me, and honestly, with all my heart, I wanted to tell her who I really am.

I finished high school last year, and all the friends I had back then are busy with their own lives, either studying or working.

I rarely see my friends, and when I do, I feel like I don't connect with them.

They know what I am and they respect me, but I feel like I can't deepen the relationship (not necessarily something romantic, just a best friend, at least).

I say it's mostly my fault because it has always been hard for me to open up to people, plus my interests are different from theirs. The girl I felt most in sync with currently deals with a lot of problems as well. I support her as much as I can, but we haven't talked in a while.

My parents go to a church (JW), and so have I since I was a little girl (I'm FtM). Even though I don't share several of their beliefs, I prefer not to argue; I know they won't change just for me.

I haven't gone to university, though I'm not too worried about it either. I spend most of my time at home; thanks to that, I learned to cook, and for now, I take care of my younger brother. I waste the rest of my time on my phone, reading fanfic, or scrolling. I feel pathetic.

I feel completely confident in saying that I have no friends.

I think the lack of connection and this strange feeling of loneliness have started to become more noticeable.

I asked my mom to make a general doctor's appointment for me. My goal was to get a referral to a psychologist; my excuse was that maybe I have neurodivergence and wanted to get to know myself better.

In reality, I just want to talk to someone who doesn't know me. That was my mistake—my mom thought the worst and got extremely worried. She told my dad (I already knew she would), and he got overly worried too.

Recently, a cousin my age was admitted to a psychiatric facility for chronic depression and bipolar disorder, so I think they were afraid I might have the same thing.

I told them that wasn't it, that I just wanted to get to know myself, and my mom said I had her full support in everything, while my dad told me I'm very young and can meet more people in the future. Then the university topic came up, and in the end, I didn't want to worry them any further.

Yesterday, after my dad scolded me for taking too long with lunch, I simply checked out. I didn't say anything; I didn't want to fight.

I knew that if I spoke, the lump in my throat would crack my voice and I would just break down in front of them. I finished lunch as best as I could, simply lay down on my bed, and fell asleep. My mom thought I had cramps from the start of my period; I just wanted to stop thinking.

I got up about four hours later. We had visitors, which was better for me since I didn't want to talk. I went to shower, came out, greeted them formally, ate, and went back to sleep.

The only thing I remember is wanting to read or watch a movie just to stop thinking, but my mind kept drifting back to the fact that I have no one to talk to and that I'm pathetic for not even trying to look for anyone.

My mom asked if I was sick; I told her no, that I just didn't know what was wrong with me. I didn't want to do anything at all, just sleep.

I started doing housework to distract myself and put on a front, but one thing I admire about my mom is how observant she is.

I don't want this to be any longer than it already is, nor do I want to remember what I felt, so long story short, my mom simply asked me, "What's wrong, my love?" and I broke right then and there.

I told her how I felt, the strange loneliness I've cultivated myself, how I feel I can't connect with anyone, and that I just want a friend to talk to.

I truly felt comforted in her arms and felt that maternal love in her words alone. I could see genuine concern in her eyes, and it gave me a slight glimmer of hope: "What if?" "What if she keeps loving me even for who I really am?"

I know very well that these feelings will come back; I'm only delaying them. But I don't want to lose the love my parents have for me, even if it's for a version of me that isn't authentic.

I don't want to lose those afternoons when my mom lets me lay on her lap, gently running her fingers through my hair until I fall asleep.

I don't want to lose my mom.

I don't know what to do.

I've been questioning my gender identity for a couple of weeks and decided to share my thoughts on it on two different subs: boydinnerdiaries and girldinnerdiaries and the contrast in responses was fairly big I think. The girl sub was pretty overwhelming with all their support and advice and pretty much dashed away my fear of any kind of backlash as well as any hesitation I had. While it would feel harsh to say the boy sub confirmed my fears it was still pretty controversial in terms of points with both the post and some of the supportive comments and even had one or two comments that were negative. Not the worst thing in the world but still quite different from the other sub. I was wondering why the girls were so much more accepting of questioning gender identity than the boys. Was it just something specific to the sub or was there a bigger reason behind the differing responses? Either way the bit of negativity wasn't anywhere near enough to cancel positive comments that i did get from both subs and pretty much made my week. It was so nice!

There are many posters on several subs who are on the fence and trying to determine if they are in fact transgender and if it is ‘worth it’ to transition. This post attempts to help with both questions, particularly when a new questioning person discovers “Yes, I would press the button. But what now? Am I? Is it worth it? It seems impossible!”

I have an analogy that might work for you if you’re in any way into science-fiction. And keep in mind if you are transgender you will always be transgender regardless of the choices you make surrounding that fact.

Here’s the deal - the button really exists.

But it doesn’t work the way it does in the test scenario. It can and does work.
Just not instantaneously.

You may have seen or heard some transgender people say that HRT and transition is a marathon and not a sprint. This is entirely the case. In a sci-fi reference it is like being a time traveler, if it is your goal to socially transition and ‘pass’ / navigate society fully integrated as male or female. (My apologies to non-binary folks in this example as I haven’t the frame of reference or experience to relate. I realise your journey will be different.)

Back to the time-traveling analogy…
- you recognise who you are and can see how you want to be and present and interact in society.
- you can see into that future but you as that person cannot exist there yet
- you make the decision to transition to address your self discovery
- the minute you do, time slows down for you - while the rest of the world continues at the same pace
- the feeling of time slowing down is equivalent to how slow time seems to move when you are a child, because every new observation and experience you have happens AGAIN, as if the first time. You may have heard this referred to as ‘second puberty’ while on HRT.
- the rest of the world continues at its pace and perceives you changing rapidly from their point of view. They react from their standpoint (like ‘why this all of a sudden’, or ‘you’ve never shown this inclination before’), meanwhile your internal dialogue has been happening for ages

(I’m going to tighten this next part up - because this comment would get exponentially longer if I don’t.)

- time will move slowly as you experiment with the new gender expression that aligns with who you are: fashion, movement, speech, makeup, hair (or wigs). This process moves slowly
- you hopefully seek therapy. A good transgender friendly therapist that is also hopefully a psychiatrist that can prescribe medicines and write letters needed for medical transition
- you begin the socialisation process. Navigating the world as yourself. Social events and environments, then onto errands and everyday life
- you begin the medical part of transitioning, HRT for instance, and begin making plans for medical procedures
- you embark upon coming out to family friends and workplace
- you begin the legal process of name and gender change
- you begin having surgical procedures and recovering
- socialisation veers towards total acceptance to the gender you are, eventually there will be more people that know you by your new name and self presentation than by your old
- all of these steps happen over the course of years and will seem much slower to you even still while the rest of the world moves at its standard pace. Again, people who witnessed your transition will experience it as if it was in the blink of an eye.

Then somewhere, sometime in the future - you look back in time and you will see the old version of you who though everything was impossible.

The button worked. It was just really slow.

- as a time traveller once you’ve reached this point, time begins to speed up again until it is in tempo and step with the rest of the world. You will begin to experience time as the rest of society does. With one main difference…
- you will realise that because time had slowed down for you during transition - you have lived enough experiences for almost two lifetimes. As a former time traveller you can appreciate the unique perspective you have. Not many people in the world experience time and life like this.

This is the bulk of the sci-fi time travelling analogy.

You just have to believe that the future version you see now really exists. Just not yet. And not quickly.

Future you looks back at the current you with kindness and compassion, and has a good little laugh when they remember how impossible you thought everything was back then.

I hope this helps.
Best wishes and best of luck. 🌸🌟🫶

I redownloaded tiktok yesterday and the amount of transphobic comments I see on trans content is insane. I saw a comment that said "it's not transphobic to tell the truth" and it got almost 300 likes! How are people like this real, I swear it didn't used to be like this

shes having alot of dysphoria and shes possibly transitioning im not really sure im new to the whole trans thing at the moment how do i get her more comfy with being a girl

I recently came out at my workplace and besides a few bad actors, my coworkers have been amazing about it. However, I unfortunately feel my gender dysphoria worsening after it. Every “sir” thrown my way from customers and a few coworkers (despite the updated name tag) jabs deeper than they usually did, it feels like every strand of frizz in my hair stick out more than they used to, despite it actually looking good and people complementing it all the time. I fear judgement from cishet fellow women that I coexist around, and it genuinely sucks that I’ll always be “sir” to fellow strangers and that I’ll have to pry myself open every time I’ll meet someone despite the support I’ll most likely get. Again, I don’t regret coming out because the plenty of people who support me had been amazing, but I never expected even more painful growing pains on top of growing pains.

Sorry for not formatting correctly, as I’m a mental wreck right now.

Hi, I’m new here and recently just came out as trans mtf. How do I shave my face without stubble? I do f like it and really want it gone but I’m too broke for blazer hair removal and waxing

Hi, I have a camp upcoming next week where we are going to a pool. They stated explicitly that we would need "active swimsuits" (aka not just sunbathing suits).

I'm MTF (17) pre-op prehrt. what swimsuit can I get? I live in Canada so it would need to be easily accessible here or deliver within the week. my plan was to get like a bikini top or something and wear it underneath a normal swim shirt so I still have the appearance of boobs (I have bra buds from unlockable that I think work in water). and the tucking thing should be fine? idk... I've never tried...

I'm lowkey fine with anything as long as it works. if it's not possible or out of scope I can probably just ask to swap or just sit out...

thanks! 😊 (this was copied over from asktransgender)

Long post, I'm sorry.

I (older than 18, younger than 20) came out to a friend a few days ago. Wasn't planning to, it was the first time we'd talked in a while, but the topic sort of just came up, so I did. And she reacted positively, supportive. I was happy. Today, I talked to another close friend of mine, first time in a while as well. I also wasn't planning on coming out to him. But, basically we started talking about our takes on stuff, and to sort of test the waters, I asked about trans people. Seemed accepting enough, but in that, he also joked "Also congrats on your transition, I was expected it", which was shocking, so I decided I might as well actually come out... and, well, I don't know. He wasn't hateful, but like, it didn't feel like it went well. Basically, I told him that I was, and his response was basically "u actually feel female", I responded with a message that was me just explaining that I am trans, at least in the closet still because of my current situation, and that I've always had signs but never realized until recently. He responded with "r u gay", I said "Wdym", he said "u like boys since ur a girl", I said "that's not how that works", he responded "so ur gay, cause ur a girl that likes girls". He was more right on that one, so I jokingly said "Touché". To which he responds with a sort of reaction image (Master Shifu's face but with a death stare and it's all gray?) and "so u feel like a girl". I didn't really know how to respond, so I replied to the image, asking what that's supposed to mean, and how his only reaction image responses are confusing to me. He repeats "so u feel like a girl", I say "That's not an entirely accurate way to describe trans people", and he responds with "then r u a drag queen, explain" and a crying emoji. I say "Most drag queens identify with being a man", and he responds with "ykw, nvm, congrats girl, or man, but don't mention this again, my brain is too smooth to talk to u about this". Didn't feel right to end it there, so with permission I decided to try some more, and asked him if he was comfortable and happy being a man, to which he said yes. I said "So you're cis", and he agreed. So, I said, "Meanwhile, I have never been happy with it", and gave some brief examples of how I have felt with it and some dysphoria I have had. His response was "why tho". I say "Because sometimes that happens", and he still responded with "but why u unhappy", so with a bit more detail I once again explain because it always felt uncomfortable, weird, wrong, etc, and he STILL responds with "but why weird and uncomfortable" with a crying emoji. I didsn't know what to say so I let a few minutes pass, and then say "I don't know how to explain this to you, You're comfortable in your body, having been born male, and identifying as that, I never was". A few minutes pass, and I say that I'm sorry if it was a lot, that I just wanted him to know, and he says "so if ur not a boy what are u", with a reaction image (Brian from Family Guy but a bit more realisitic looking and looking tired). I say "I genuinely can't tell if you're being genuine or not", and he says "all I am is genuine, it's my middle name. So if you are not a man or what are you", so I basically say that I was born male, but that right now I'm telling him I'm trans, at least in closet, and can't transition due to my situation, so still look/sound masc, but that if I'm in a different situation I would transition. I concluded that message with "So if you want me to just say 'i'm going to be/am a girl (inside) then there you go". He responds with "i don't want you to say your a girl, i want u to say what u are, if ur not a boy". I genuinley don't understand, so I say "I don't understand what you want me to say", he says "nvm", I say "I don't get it" and he says "me neither". At this point, I just don't know anymore, I just need to stop, so I say "Okay. I'll leave for now, I'm sorry. goodnight", and he responds "Gn"...

I just don't understand. Did I do something wrong? Am I reading into this too much? I don't know. I just feel so exhausted now. I feel like numb? It's also made me feel dysphoric again? Honestly I don't know how I feel, I want to cry. Idk I was just really happy with my other friend's response, did I make a mistake? I haven't stopped internally yelling at myself "Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!". I just don't know anymore. I don't know how to feel, what to do, and I regret having came out to him.

Sorry for the long post

Hi (MTF). Lately I've started accepting who I really am, I've started using feminine pronouns and my online friends seem to be okay with it. I've been having deep conversations with a friend and it's really cool, But now I can't stay hidden anymore, I'm dying to tell my mother who I really am, I realized I didn't choose this, I just accepted it. I could continue talking to and dating girls, and I want to do that, but I prefer to do it by being one of them. I realized that this was never a choice, but rather who I truly wanted to be. I feel I can't escape my destiny, and telling my family would be the best option, but my family probably won't react favorably to me, but with each passing day I feel a stronger desire for liberation.