Okay, so I'm coming out to my school in August I'm waiting to come out to teachers until I'm 18 that way I can have the ability to move out, if it leaks to parent. For starters I was going to tell all my friends: Ex-friends, classmate friends, friends, close friends, Ex-friends. That I'm trans. Then, I was going to move on to acquaintances and all my classmates. The rest who are strangers should learn by word of mouth. The basics should be, "Hello, I'm Ashton. Most of you know me by ___ and I'm trans. I'd appreciate it, if you referred to me by he/him/his pronouns. But, accepting me is just as great as pronouns." But, I wanna know what creative ways I can do this. Resources I can use to answer questions would be helpful. Also, any ideas of what kinds of questions I might be asked would be helpful. Here's the ones I think might be asked. What is Trans? Do you have dysphoria? What is dysphoria? What are your plans for the future transition-wise? What sexuality are you? How are you gay, if you were born a male and are trans? Does it make someone straight, if they date you and you are born a female? And every trans person's favorite question. Cue the eye rolls and uncomfortable shuffling.. What's in your pants? Lolz.. Most of these I think I can answer, but ideas on how to be as clear as possible and as not to offend anyone's belief system too greatly. Is much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read this and/or replying!! : )
If someone doesn't accept you because of their beliefs that's their problem, not yours. Also if you don't feel comfortable coming out to teachers that's perfectly fine but do keep n mind they may find out if the rest of the class knows. That could also cause some confusion among your peers if the teacher is referring to as one gender and the name on the attendance and others are referring to you as he/him and Ashton. However, you go at the right pace for you. I know for myself coming out to my teachers was fairly easy and I grew extremely close to my art teacher because of it and talked daily and he got me out of some really tight spots multiple times. A lot of teachers I came out to make a point to tell me that they had no business in revealing anything about my sexuality or gender and were careful to keep it a secret until I was ready for my parents to know. If there's a question you don't know how to answer as clearly as possible maybe think about it for a bit if you can. If not, try your best. Even if the answer isn't exactly clear, you could always see that person again if you think of a better answer later. I would say make sure your comfortable before yo come out and make sure that it's a safe environment. You don't have to come out to some people if you don't want to even if everyone else already knows. I don't know if I have any resources to help, but I would say to just tell people hi my names Ashton, and if they refer to you as female just kindly correct them and say actuall my pronouns are he/ him or I'm a boy. Best of luck to you hope it all goes well!
But, if a teacher does find out and starts to call me by what the other students do, or learn about it from them. I'll consider it a great thing! And some teachers can be chill. I live in the south though and a very lgbt+ populated area. You never really know what kind of person your going to get. The lgbt+ hater, or the one waving a rainbow pride on the front lawn of the school.
It's been my experience that your peers won't generally ask deep questions. Some might be mean, but the ones who accept you probably won't ask much; they won't know what is and isn't okay to ask so they'll only ask things like "when should I call you Ashton? Does your family know? How do I address you in front of strangers?" Something really important to remember is that no one is entitled to any of this information. If you feel uncomfortable you have the right to say "I don't wanna answer that," and just walk away. I recommend watching Miles McKenna's video about coming out because it's funny and also technically has some ideas. Like, coming out jokes. (Also check your wall I messaged you okay bye!)
