By Jennifer Lamontagne | Observer Contributor
Some people are born in the wrong body, lacking the parts they feel define them. The struggle to become who you were meant to be can be a long, challenging road.
Michael Dean, age 20, a second year MWCC student, knows this struggle all too well. Dean is trapped in a body that has never felt quite right and forced to live in secrecy, because his family would never accept their daughter as a man. Dean is not allowed to live fully out in the open as the gender he feels he was born to be.
Dean’s parents are very conservative and would disown him for his choices to be openly transgender. Dean identifies as a pan romantic, a sexual male, despite being born female. Dean states, “Feminine felt fake, felt like an act, cheap character of what my parents expected me to be, not who I am.”
With the support of good friends, Dean has taken steps to a long journey into transitioning into who he is, like using his male name out in public with friends and school, changing his wardrobe, and binds his chest when out. In the future, when he is able to be open about his choice, Dean plans to legally change his name, have surgery to remove his breasts, and take testosterone hormones. He has no interest in going all the way with reconstructive genital surgery, as he has no desire for sex.
The biggest struggle in transitioning that Dean faces is recognition of the gender he is. It is a constant struggle he and the transgender community face daily during the process of transforming. Dean tries not to let it get the best of him.
On campus, Dean is free to be who he is and loves that he is accepted and called “Dude” and terms that are more masculine more often than not. “I’m safe presenting as male without getting questioned as to why.” Dean states, “I love being out. It’s not stressful, it’s not a balance of well planned lies. It’s just me being open and honest.”
Dean lives day to day in a duel life, one of a puppet and one of freedom to live the way he is happy. He is striving to be free from the door that is stuck half open. Dean believes that most if not all of his family will most likely disown him, but with the support of his close friends, he will be fine with or without his family.
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