Heaven Or Hell

When you live in a small town it could be either heaven or hell it all depend upon you. You might like living in a town where everyone knows everyone’s secret, where everyone cares about their neighbors. But at the same time someone else might see the same thing as nosey neighbors and a bunch of busy bodies, it all depends upon your point of view.

When you are it can be heaven or hell.

Transgender in small-town Iowa
Ames Tribune
By Marlys Barker Nevada Journal and Tri-County Times
February 11, 21017

For Arthur Hanson and Alex Glenn, being high school students in rural Iowa has its usual tumultuous teenage challenges. But for Hanson and Glenn, there is one challenge most of their peers aren't facing. They are transgender.

Simply saying they cannot be discriminated against under Iowa law isn't enough. There's also the issue of acceptance, and for both Hanson, a freshman at Nevada High School, and Glenn, a senior at Ballard High School in Huxley, they have found a welcoming environment among their friends and teachers.

Yes, passing laws is one thing but acceptance is another, you cannot legislate acceptance. On my blog I have a quote from Dr. King,

Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.

That is all the law does is “restrain the heartless” it does make acceptance, you do.

The article goes on to say,

"The best thing we can do for our youth is to let them know we love and accept them for who they are, whoever that is," Carleton said. "They need to see us modeling acceptance of people different from us, and they need to see people who are different from the 'norm' being successful in school, in relationships and in jobs."

It is the adults who set the tone for their children or students. If there is a support coming from the parents and teachers life can be bearable.

When you live in a small town when you are known to everyone there is an opportunity for everyone to get to know you and know the person you really and it can make your transition easier but at the same time if they are rigid in their ways it can be hell. Sometimes the fact that they know you before your transition can create a crazy in their beliefs.

I am reminded of when I transitioned and one of my former technicians who was a Jehovah Witness found out about my transition he emailed me and said “I know you are a good person and you have giving me much to think about.”