You Don’t Know How It Feels…

…To be me. All we want is to live our lives, we don’t want special rights, we don’t want special treatment, and all we want is to live our lives. We don’t hurt anyone why do they care if we are trans?

Commentary: Transgender people just want to be themselves
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Dex Rumsey
February 10, 2019

My name is Dex, and I am a 14 year-old transgender teen who recently lobbied Utah state Rep. Merrill Nelson and Sen. Ralph Okerlund about House Bill 153, which is aimed at keeping people like me from having our birth certificates reflect our true selves.

It was an honor to meet them, and I appreciated their time and willingness to listen as I tried to explain how this type of legislation would hurt people like me.

I think there are many people who don’t have a lot of experience or understanding of transgender people. I think it’s those people who are pushing to keep us from being able to change the gender on our birth certificates.

For some of us trans women who went through puberty when we were teenagers and transitioned at an older age don’t integrate into society that good, but for someone who transitioned before they went through puberty or for trans man changing your birth certificate is important.

I hear negative things said about transgender and other LGBTQ+ people all the time, and it puts all of us at greater risk of harassment and bullying.

I think that’s why I always feel anxiety at school. Waiting for school or class to start, in the hallway and when school is out and I’m waiting for a ride, I worry what might happen.

I don’t feel safe.

People decide and say negative and hateful things about me, and they spread their hate, when they don’t even know me.

That is something I just don’t understand, why do people go out of their way to be mean?

Does it make them feel superior? Do they just hate people who are different?

When I retired, one of my technicians found out I was trans, my chair wasn’t even cold and he sent out emails and told everyone in the office about me. I could never figure out why he did that, I worked alongside of him for 28 years and then he did that. Why?

People like me aren’t out to hurt anyone, and we aren’t trying to force other people to become like us. That isn’t possible anyway. I am not trying to bother anyone. Even though we just want to do our own thing, people can be very hateful, even though my life doesn’t affect them.

Amen.