In hiding

The problem I have with hiding is that it encourages the idea that we are doing something wrong. Whatever guilt, shame and fear exist are left to fester no matter how small they may be.

Those who are happy with playful and sporadic gender variance in safe spaces might think they have little to gain by coming out but even they will feel the benefits of today's more open environment. For dysphoric people it should be a no brainer to live openly if we want to fortify both self-esteem and mental health. If it were easy to do I would done it decades ago and looking back I regret I didn't despite remembering the societal climate.

Having just passed the day of visibility I look back at the tiny steps I first took over 20 years ago which then felt so difficult but I needed to start somewhere. Each successive step I took to come out to someone lowered the fear almost exponentially.

I also feel that not coming out can discourage that our gender variance matures along with every other aspect of our lives.