........there are still older people who have not transitioned, who live
closeted, who experience the distress and depression described. Younger
people fighting against acknowledging their gender dysphoria, and
terrified of transition, should consider how they would feel with
similar desires in old age.
Several years ago, we did a Transition Thoughts and Reflections series of guest posts on T-Central. One of the posts was written by a very closeted man in his 90's, known internationally in his field during his working years. I referred to him as "A". He had read some of my early blog posts and closely related to my own thoughts of not transitioning. We emailed back and forth for several years. It was very clear from the discussions I had that this 90 year old guy would have transitioned in his teens or 20's had he been that age today. Instead, he lived closeted his entire life, partially because he was afraid of what his family would think but also because he was so well known. A couple of years ago, I received an email from his son, letting me know that he had passed away. The son knew nothing of his father's inner gender identity demons until he got into his father's computer and discovered my emails. He was so sorry his father had never revealed any of this to the family. This series of emails between me and "A", and again between me and A's son, is something I'll probably do a blog post on one of these days.
I was reminded of the above when I read Clare's recent post, Gender Expression Deprivation Anxiety Disorder. As is always the case with Clare, the post says a lot and is well worth reading.
That your friend A did not transition is, I think, both incredible and sad. That they somehow kept a lid on things because of the world they lived in.
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