Gender Dysphoria & Me: Grey’s Journey

Artwork by Grey Zuniga On the cold tile of the singular gender neutral bathroom is where I feel safest. In the luxurious lawn chairs sprinkled throughout campus, sitting alone with the hum of the freeway and the chirping of birds I feel… safe. At least until I feel the confused eyes of peers burning into the back of my ...

Gender Dysphoria & Me: Illisie’s Journey

*This blog contains sensitive material. "You’re not a girl, you’re just an imitation of one." Seems like today’s going to be a dysphoria day. And that thing between your legs is proof. And on the way to Italian food too, it does not know when to quit. Then the Mulan classic, “Reflection,” starts playing in my head for the ...

Gender Dysphoria & Me: Kieran’s Journey

I am not a girl. It took me years to realize and come to terms with it, but I am not. No way around it. No technicalities. I am not a girl, and I never was. But I didn’t always know that. It didn’t matter so much when I was young. After all, boys and girls are treated quite ...

Gender Dysphoria & Me: Gregory’s Journey

Sometimes, I forget my transness. I forget the world has made me feel small so many times. I forget how many nights I ran away from myself. Now I come home and rest in the safety I craved. I did not know the language, but I knew the feeling of separating my mind from my body. Growing up as ...

Gender Dysphoria & Me: Elio’s Journey

When I was a child, I had no concept of gender. I was, in all meanings of the word, free. I played with whatever toys I wanted to, imagined myself as whatever I wanted, galivanting around without a care in the world. My head was so far in the clouds it barely felt the pull of gravity. I had had ...

Gender Dysphoria & Me: Evan’s Journey

My journey with my gender started when my identical twin sister came out as gay in the 8th grade. Suddenly, things made sense for her. Why she felt the way that she did about the lady at our church who taught us Japanese, why she didn’t want her Barbie's to marry Kens.  For the first year that my sister ...

Gender Dysphoria & Me: Martin’s Journey

When I was in middle school, I never really felt seen or understood for who I was. I can remember — to this day — constantly reciting to myself, as if it were a prayer: “Things will be different in high school.” Spoiler: They were not. When I finally started high school, I felt confident in my fluid expression of ...

The Laurel Foundation: New Advisory Board Members & Summer Camp!

The Laurel Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1992 by Margot Andrew-Anderson to serve children, youth, and families affected by HIV/AIDS and other at-risk youth populations.  This year, The Laurel Foundation expanded the population it serves to include transgender and gender nonconforming youth.  The Laurel Foundation has added new advisory board members including TransFamily Support Services Executive Director, Kathie ...

Transgender Rights Will Not Be Trumped

When he was President, Barack Obama issued a set of guidelines through the Departments of Justice and Education that said transgender students should be called by their preferred names and pronouns, and be allowed access to the restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities that correspond with their gender identity. At a town hall event in April 2016, Donald Trump ...

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