Good luck with coming out. I am currently 28 years-old. I came out of the closet as a gay man around the age of 19. It was such a relief to get that off of my shoulders.

That was not the end, however. At the age of 27, after having identified as a gay man and having been with men for about 8 years, I realized that my gender identity was female and not male. In other words, I felt that I was a woman in a man's body. So, I have been on cross-gender hormones for about 1.5 years and have been living full-time as a woman for the last six months. I will be having my genital surgery this coming January to make me into a complete woman.

Coming out transgender was so much harder for me than coming out gay. I just hope that I put the message out there that sexual orientation and gender identity are two separate things. Just because you are sexually into guys does not necessarily mean that you like being a guy, which is what I thought for so long. You may like guys sexually and want to be a female when you are with them, which would make you transgender.

So, after identifying as gay for so long, I now identity as a heterosexual female. Interesting, huh?

Hugs,
Tracy