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[idrildt]

Coming Out as a Young Adult

Overall, I believe not enough attention is given to late teen and young adult transitioners. Those who come out as transgender or gender diverse later in life have immense advantages over those who come out sooner in life. In the case of later-transitioning people, for example, they've already probably benefited from years of cisgender privilege and established economic security for themselves. Those who transition early in their teens also have advantages over young adult transitioners: By necessity, if they do so, they must have the acceptance of their parents. In recent times, more and more trans people begin their medical and social transitions between the ages of 16 and 24. These are people with no economic security of their own who more often than not find themselves with no family by the time the dust has settled. Anecdotally, of my many, many transgender friends and acquaintances, only three still regularly interact with their families at all. Going to college when you have no home to return to, no savings, no generational wealth, oftentimes not even a car is more than insurmountable- it's impossible. Only through the charity of my close friend and her family could I even get a roof over my head.

Some studies report up to half of all transgender and gender-diverse youths are in some way estranged from their families. Those who aren't must often go through the economically challenging process of changing their legal names, establishing employment, bank accounts, insurance, all basic aspects of life *entirely on their own* with nobody but themselves to help them. They must do all this while navigating poverty, discrimination, and exploitation.

Of those who aren't disowned outright, there is no guarantee that they'll find their parents accepting enough to ease their mental health. The sky high rates of mental illness among gender diverse people does not come from innate illness, or delusions, or psychiatric problems- they arise from the abuses that we endure, constantly and ruthlessly, over our mere identities.

What programs do exist in this country to assist this vulnerable demographic are pitifully underfunded. Many trans people find themselves forced to take up living situations with exploitative people who take advantage of their vulnerability. Legal protections for gender diverse people are often inadequate to protect them from employment discrimination, making a tough situation even more challenging. Establishing the economic and social base to attend college in this situation is often too challenging, and success is not guaranteed if they get there. Over half of the states have passed discriminatory legislation. Some of these include bathroom bans which outright make it a crime to use a bathroom consistent with some peoples' gender identities. States like Florida will consider IDs with a gender different from one's birth gender to be fraudulent, at least on paper. This state of insecurity is why I feel that young adults have it the worst out of any other demographic of gender-diverse people, whether they seek college or even just survival. Every movement, kind word, fund, and gesture helps them immensely.