There’s a lot of people that have this experience.
All of these thoughts need to be challenged, she said.īy connecting with affirmative people, like counselors and other helping professionals, or a community, those messages can be replaced with: “ ‘I am normal. Coolhart, who specializes in transgender issues. Dispel the myths.Īmong the most damaging myths are that being a sexual minority or transgender is a disease, a sin or not normal, says Dr. She works with patients to help them identify the origin of those critical messages to hopefully “externalize them,” she said. If negative thoughts like “something is wrong with me” creep up, Deborah Coolhart, a therapist at Syracuse University and co-author of “ The Gender Quest Workbook,” says to remember that these thoughts are learned, not innate.
“The leap from ‘something feels not right’ to ‘I am transgender’ is a huge one,” said Mr. You don’t need all the answers right away. “And rather importantly,” he added, “psychological, psychiatric, medical professionals are now much more aware and enlightened than they were in the past not to pathologize variation, but to see it as normal, and to help people to adjust.”Īt square one, though, take an inventory of your feelings.
In many parts of the country, and the world, there are institutional resources available for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people that never before existed, said Larry Gross, a communications professor at the University of Southern California who helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies. While it is not possible to get an exact figure on the population of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, a 2015 report by the Public Religion Research Institute suggests that “7 percent of millennials identify either as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.” A January 2017 Gallup survey revealed that an estimated 4.1 percent of Americans identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, up from 3.5 percent in 2012.Īccording to a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, even those numbers may be underestimated - as are the challenges that people in this community face. “You are not alone,” said iO Tillett Wright, a speaker whose TedxWomen talk, “Fifty Shades of Gay,” has more than 2.5 million views. Even if facing discrimination is not a concern for you, the anxiety and isolation you may feel privately can be all too real. If this is what you’re going through, take a breath and remember that there are plenty of people and resources to help and support you. Why do I feel different from the people I’m around? Those feelings can be the beginning of a journey of self-discovery that can be rewarding, but also extremely daunting. Am I gay? Everyone calls me a girl, but I don’t feel like one. Maybe the questions bubbled up over time.