A Queer Kid Survival Guide: Goodbye
This year has been a big year for me. I became editor of The Vine, did my A-Levels, and a Tedx Talk. This year I had to come to terms with my inevitable growing up and entered the adult world of work and politics and voting.
This year I also started hormone replacement therapy. After two years of waiting and working to reach that goal, I finally have access to the chemicals that ease the discomfort I feel with my body and my voice, due to my being transgender. In about two months, I will be undergoing chest surgery for the same reason. I started the school year ready for change, and scared that it would never come, but I have received it, and I have learnt so much.
I have learnt that I can help people just by being myself, and that people like the real me, instead of the one I pretended to be for so long. I have learnt that perseverance and dedication sometimes lead to failure and disappointment, but, most of the time? They lead us to amazing things.
I have seen friends and strangers come out of their shells and their closets and become the people they really are, some coming to terms with their gender or sexuality, and some just learning to own it. As LGBT people, we have so much to offer, so much love and so much power behind us. I’m not going to be there to acknowledge all of the ridiculously cool and amazing things you do in the next few years, but I know you will do them just the same.
Thanks to you, I have learnt that I am not alone, and that my existence is revolutionary, and can change the way people act and think and live. This year has taught me to ignore the things people say, trying to put me down and invalidate my identity and experiences. To take strength and power in my difference. To see the weird things in myself and love them for what they are, for what they make me.
And to all of you who have changed this year, who have come to realisations and been so brave in pursuing them: I see you. I see you and everything you have achieved and even though I may not know you that well- I am proud. Proud of you, and proud to be part of your community.
I’m proud of the person you are today, and who you will grow up to be.
I joined in Year 7 as a scared little girl, flitting from identity to identity in a vain effort to find one that fit. I leave HCC as an 18-year-old boy with acne and a voice that is always breaking, who for some reason, some people look up to.
But, despite all of the difficulty and the sleepless nights, and the stress and the meltdowns, I finally recognise the person I see in the mirror. I see a boy who loved himself enough to change the way people saw him. So, you know what?
I am proud of myself.
Louis King-Cox, Y13
This year I also started hormone replacement therapy. After two years of waiting and working to reach that goal, I finally have access to the chemicals that ease the discomfort I feel with my body and my voice, due to my being transgender. In about two months, I will be undergoing chest surgery for the same reason. I started the school year ready for change, and scared that it would never come, but I have received it, and I have learnt so much.
I have learnt that I can help people just by being myself, and that people like the real me, instead of the one I pretended to be for so long. I have learnt that perseverance and dedication sometimes lead to failure and disappointment, but, most of the time? They lead us to amazing things.
I have seen friends and strangers come out of their shells and their closets and become the people they really are, some coming to terms with their gender or sexuality, and some just learning to own it. As LGBT people, we have so much to offer, so much love and so much power behind us. I’m not going to be there to acknowledge all of the ridiculously cool and amazing things you do in the next few years, but I know you will do them just the same.
Thanks to you, I have learnt that I am not alone, and that my existence is revolutionary, and can change the way people act and think and live. This year has taught me to ignore the things people say, trying to put me down and invalidate my identity and experiences. To take strength and power in my difference. To see the weird things in myself and love them for what they are, for what they make me.
And to all of you who have changed this year, who have come to realisations and been so brave in pursuing them: I see you. I see you and everything you have achieved and even though I may not know you that well- I am proud. Proud of you, and proud to be part of your community.
I’m proud of the person you are today, and who you will grow up to be.
I joined in Year 7 as a scared little girl, flitting from identity to identity in a vain effort to find one that fit. I leave HCC as an 18-year-old boy with acne and a voice that is always breaking, who for some reason, some people look up to.
But, despite all of the difficulty and the sleepless nights, and the stress and the meltdowns, I finally recognise the person I see in the mirror. I see a boy who loved himself enough to change the way people saw him. So, you know what?
I am proud of myself.
Louis King-Cox, Y13
