I had a close acquaintance from Oz that had a family, was a rocket engineer with military ties (had worked at ADFA at some point - the whole story about wallabies with AAA he was present for). Around 50, his body started aggressively feminizing. They tried many treatments to stabilize. There were bodily changes. Then the system decided to reverse partly... anyway, in the long run, settled in to being a lass. Hard on the family (his wife particularly) but it wasn't anybody's choice in this instance.

He went from being Alan to Zoe. And as Zoe, he has an LGBT+ website where she now uses her education and ability to parse complex documents to explain both genetic, physiological stuff related to gender but also to demystify legal issues (and injustices) around these sorts of issues.

And Zoe feels more comfortable as she is now, despite the change not being of her choice.

All that is to say I (and likely most people) don't realize that the body can do some very unexpected things. And even if it doesn't, sometimes you find out what you thought you were or others thought your were and you kind of went along as expected... wasn't really who you end up needing to be for yourself.

I respect the courage these journeys take. I respect the strength it takes to be true to who you are at any point in your life - and if that changes, to follow the new direction.

And I am glad there are a decent portion of people who will adapt to such changes and to show understanding and decency.

Wish you all the best, Susan.

Tom B

Ottawa,ON

On Sat, Feb 6, 2021 at 3:37 AM Nicole Susans <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

Wednesday February 6th 2013. I remember the day very well. That night I sat in my kitchen and wrote an email. It was to the editors who had published my writing. My writing has always been incredibly important to me.

It asked a very simple request, to charge the name of the author on work from my dead name to a female name. I was terrified, I thought I'd be seen as a freak and pervert. I don't know how long my finger hovered over the send button. It seemed forever, certainly longer than ten minutes. Of course, my fears were totally unfounded, I was met with nothing but support and acceptance. I still have the replies and treasure them.

At the time I thought I could live two lives, online as a woman, in real life as a man. I was so wrong, once I started there was no turning back. Three months later I came out publicly everywhere and have never looked back. I must say the support I received in those three months was amazing and made my transition possible.

So there I was that night, finger hovering, terrified. At 9:36pm I flexed my finger and the email was sent and my life change. The time right now is 9:36pm as well. All of those people who replied were and (with the tragic exception of Loren) still are vitally involved in Traveller. So thanks guys.

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