It’s a bit of an odd feeling to be transitioning (whether to full-time or something just short of it) semi-publicly.

Work and family don’t know, but my social circle and those on Facebook know to a greater or lesser degree.

But it occurs to me that it some ways, it’s reminiscent of the transition path of trans men coming out of the lesbian community, particularly those who identified as butch for a period of time until they realized butch wasn’t working for them.

I don’t have up-close first-hand experience — and obviously it’s not every trans man’s experience — but from what I’ve seen from afar (at least in the Bay Area), it does seem like it’s not uncommon for trans guys to have a public journey from butch-ish to butch to trans-questioning to trans-identified (with an optional gender queer stop along the way). One where sometimes the community rallies around the transitioner to help raise funds for their surgery.

Or at least is commonly acknowledged. E.g. I was taking a dance class Sunday and the instructor made an off-hand reference to a friend of her’s just having had his top surgery.