I have left the political soapbox behind today and return to my personal ramblings.
Of late I've been revealing that I'm trans to just about everybody. Every encounter is different, but have all been positive.
There was one friend both my wife and I were apprehensive of. An older gentleman, divorced, who lives alone. I've known him for over a decade and we get along great. In spite of the fact he might be considered a curmudgeon.
I came out to him recently and he seemed to ponder it for quite some time, but never had a harsh word. Quite the opposite he was very gracious.
The next day I saw him with a serious look on his face, so I wondered if sleeping on it changed his mind. Unexpectedly he said "You shared a secret with me, so now it's my turn to share with you. Here is something that nobody in this town knows...".
I'm sworn to secrecy so I can't elaborate on what he disclosed, but it was personal, legal and neither common nor unusual. I was humbled that he chose to let me in on his secret.
It dawns on me that we have just expanded our communication capabilities. There are now two worlds of discussions we can have that were not possible before. I can talk of transgender issues, he can tell me of his secret world.
Before the LGBT revolution, I'm sure that millions of people had to stifle their thoughts and feelings for fear of outing themselves. Now they can freely speak to anyone about their lives. Now it's the transgender community sharing our secret with the world.
What starts as a minority pushing for rights has the side benefit of making human interaction more complete and precise.