If today, in 2018, an official document insisted I list my gender, the answer would be trans non-binary. Hopefully this hypothetical document leaves a significant amount of blank space for the answer to be written in, because each person could have a very different, very long answer to this once seemingly simple question.

My gender is unique to myself; I am neither male nor female. This existence beyond the gender binary means something different for everyone. To me, it means I can’t be held to any set of gender-based expectations. I choose not to be suppressed by our binary-enforcing society, a society that inadvertently discourages personal exploration while shaming those who veer left of the norm.

The language of gender I am using is not well understood. I know this, because everyday I see gender-normative people struggle to be accepting. Unfortunately, the acceptance they seek isn’t merely a mental thought process, it’s an actual feeling. There’s a great difference between accepting something in your head versus feeling it in your gut, the latter being derived from a sense of understanding and empathy. I believe people are ultimately good. For the most part, people want to accept me and my gender identity – they just don’t know how.

In my life, through my speaking engagements and through my brand NEW FRDM I aim to offer a conceptual understanding of gender that helps the audience relate and empathize with identities that fall outside of societal expectations.

Think of a secret you’ve held. Maybe you were the creative type in an academic family. Maybe you had a forbidden romance. Maybe you scratched your parent’s car and blamed your sibling. Remember how corrosive it felt to hold onto that secret? It ate away at your daily life until it felt like it was all that you were. You thought about it every night; thought about all the ways you could maybe get out of it if you twisted the truth just enough.

As time went on, your ability to resist the truth weakened. Hopefully, you came to find some acceptance within yourself. Maybe your acceptance grew to the point where you were able to let your secret out. And when you finally did, I bet you felt so relieved! You may have even been surprised at how uplifting it was. You knew it was heavy, but you didn’t know what it would feel like once that weight was gone. Suddenly, you’re able to embrace the person you truly are. For a lot of queer people, this is the coming out process.

For many trans people, the secret of their gender lies dormant in them. They’ve been raised to operate within a limited perception of gender, where you’re a man or a woman, depending on what the doctor said when you were born. Our upbringing gave us no concept that our gender may not match our sex-assigned-at-birth, or that there’s an option to live outside the binary all together.

When I was very little, I wanted to be a boy. As a young teen, I came out as a lesbian. In my early twenties, I began to learn about trans people. Now, at 29, it wasn’t until a few years ago, that I was introduced to new gender concepts that made a lot of sense to me.

Image credit Kristina Ruddick.

Allow me to introduce language that has resonated with me, and helped me find comfort within my own unique gender identity.

There’s so much variance within gender. Gender is not a binary, it’s not even a spectrum. It’s literally unique to every individual; as unique as your fingerprint. No one else has the same gender identity and expression as you.

From the moment we’re born, we are socialized to be a little champion or a little princess. There is not a single moment in our upbringing when we are not encouraged to be one or the other. We’ve been taught to believe that these gender roles are ‘natural,’ when really, they’re deeply culturally ingrained. They have been passed on through generations to the present day.

We’ve constructed a culture that mutes out half of the characteristics of every person. Men are taught not to cry, not to be vulnerable or sensitive. Women are taught to be docile, to submit, to nurture others and ignore their own needs. We’re limiting ourselves by not allowing individuals to embrace their own purpose and potential. This gets amplified to a cultural level, and we are therefore limiting our society’s potential as a whole.

When you see gender this way, do you loosen up? Do you feel more inclined to exist in new parts of yourself, and to let that be okay? As I came to understand this, I was able to begin coming out to myself and to realize the large burden I had been carrying. I realized I was now closer to aligning with who I was born to be!

But when it comes to telling other people, it’s complicated. Coming out as gay in our society is certainly a challenging endeavour, but when you say the words, at least your message is understood. Coming out as genderqueer…  How are you supposed to come out when no one understands what you’re coming out as?

Having language for myself now is very important. I know people want to accept me but I also see their discomfort. I live as a NB (non-binary) person everyday and watch people squirm, not knowing how to address me, not wanting to screw up my pronouns, not knowing what to expect of me in a world where gender is so ingrained in everything.

Frequently I’ve heard the argument, “But ‘they’ is a plural, not a singular pronoun!”  To that I say, respectfully: I understand it’s hard to relearn using the word ‘they’, but validating people’s identities with this word is significantly more important than your perceptions of grammar! Language is meant to evolve so let’s work together and make it change.

Even those with a cisgendered identity can recognize that none of us fit perfectly into the mainstream culture’s celebrated archetypes of male and female. Gender norms affect and limit us all.

Be yourself. Follow your intuition and tip toe outside rigid gender expectations. By giving yourself that freedom, you are gifting those around you the permission to do the same. Welcome gender variance. Welcome new identities. Understand that NB people’s unique fingerprint of gender identity simply falls moreso outside the expectations of that which was assigned for them at birth. Know that although you may not understand them yet, their bravery to break out of expectations is creating freedom for us all.

The post My Non-Binary World appeared first on The Gilbert Centre.

I had a key lock on my door with three large sliding locks, I really wanted my privacy…for obvious reasons.  One day my dad came home; I was blasting hard rock music on my record player when he tried to come in my room.  He began banging on the door and told me to open the door, so I quickly changed out of my dress and opened the door…what a mistake that was.  He didn’t ask how my day was or how school was he just wanted to know why I didn’t do the chores.  He began yelling at me and took his belt off and beat me with it.  As you may have already guessed, my dad had quite the temper and he needed someone to take his aggression out on. Now do you think my dad would be the type to accept me as a transgender woman? I think not.

Anyways, when he started to beat me tears came to my eyes but then I started to laugh instead, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.  I said to him after he was finished, “Do you feel better now?”, he didn’t reply and left in a huff.  I slammed my bedroom door, locked it, put my dress back on and hugged my best friend, my teddy bear (my backside was still sore). I called my teddy bear Wish Bear, she was a very special bear to me.  I had gone to my favourite store and hugged every teddy bear on the shelf and talked to them until I finally found the very special friend I was looking for, and named her Wish Bear.  Wish Bear was special because she listened to me and helped me get through tough times, I told her I wished that in the future I could be who I wanted to be.

Now you know who my dad was, stay tuned for more.

Click here to read Part 1.

The post My Adventure Coming out as Trans, Part 2 appeared first on The Gilbert Centre.

Hi my name is Aine, I was born in 1955 and I recently transitioned into a woman on June 5^th, 2017.  I would like to share the adventure of my life with you.

For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be a woman.  From a young age I wore my mom’s clothing, I often wore her bras, garter belts, stockings, dresses, and shoes.  I screamed at my mom that I wanted to be a woman, but she ignored my request and insisted that because I was born a boy I should dress as a boy.  My mom is one of those people who cares more about what the neighbours think, and less about what I want and how I want to live my life.  I was devastated that my mom didn’t accept me and was forced to hide in my bedroom if I wanted to dress as a woman.  This experience with my mom has caused a tremendous negative affect on my life.

I had a difficult time in grade school, I failed grade three because they thought I was lazy and didn’t want to learn.  I couldn’t pay attention in class, I was constantly staring out the window and not paying attention to the teacher.  My mom met with my teachers and I expressed my desires again, however nobody listened to my needs and they decided to send me to a school for children with special needs.  This new school they sent me to turned out to be a really good experience.  I learned that no matter what your abilities are everyone is intelligent, talented, and unique in their own way.

I was sent to a vocational high school, where they offered a variety of shop classes. I really liked machine shop and printing but I hated going to class, my anxiety prevented me from participating a lot of the time. When my teachers centred me out my face to turned red and I had a burning sensation, all the students in my class would ridicule me and call me ‘red flasher’.  Often the taunting would get the best of me and I would run home crying and upset. I would go to my bedroom and put on my mom’s clothing because it made feel safe and secure being in my comfort zone. After a while my teacher’s thought I was a nuisance and I found myself feeling very uncomfortable in their classes. I chose to spend my school days in shop classes instead. After four years I didn’t have much of an education other than printing shop, but I loved it and after graduation I got a job in the printing industry.

I spent high school planning to transition after I graduate, but couldn’t get the medical support I needed being under my mom’s OHIP. After I became employed and had my own OHIP I was thinking I could finally transition, but then I began having second thoughts. I worried about whether or not my employer and co-workers would accept me and if I would lose my job all together. I decided not to transition at this time because I didn’t want to risk losing my job. I had no social or health care support so I was forced to endure my life as a man.

But after 40 years of work I retired and my life took a turn for the better…

Chapter 2

Oh yeah, there is a dad somewhere in all of this but he had a way to avoid the family.  My dad was salesman, he invented a product which gave him the excuse to travel around the world.  He would be gone for 2 to 3 months at a time selling his product, leaving me a “honey to do” list.  I can remember when I was eleven my dad handed me a list of chores (because back in the sixties women were responsible for the domestic labour and men had to go to work) my dad took care of the outside of the house, which he passed on to me.   One of the chores on the list was to scrape and paint the eaves trough which I couldn’t do because I was terrified of heights.  My dad didn’t care, he called me a suck and told me I was to do it anyways.  I ripped up the list into little pieces, I’d rather be in my bedroom wearing my dresses.

I had a key lock on my door with three large sliding locks, I really wanted my privacy…for obvious reasons.  One day my dad came home; I was blasting hard rock music on my record player when he tried to come in my room.  He began banging on the door and told me to open the door, so I quickly changed out of my dress and opened the door…what a mistake that was.  He didn’t ask how my day was or how school was he just wanted to know why I didn’t do the chores.  He began yelling at me and took his belt off and beat me with it.  As you may have already guessed, my dad had quite the temper and he needed someone to take his aggression out on. Now do you think my dad would be the type to accept me as a transgender woman? I think not.

Anyways, when he started to beat me tears came to my eyes but then I started to laugh instead, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.  I said to him after he was finished, “Do you feel better now?”, he didn’t reply and left in a huff.  I slammed my bedroom door, locked it, put my dress back on and hugged my best friend, my teddy bear (my backside was still sore). I called my teddy bear Wish Bear, she was a very special bear to me.  I had gone to my favourite store and hugged every teddy bear on the shelf and talked to them until I finally found the very special friend I was looking for, and named her Wish Bear.  Wish Bear was special because she listened to me and helped me get through tough times, I told her I wished that in the future I could be who I wanted to be.

Chapter 3

I’m going to take you back to my childhood again. I’ll let you hang for a bit… you’ll be surprised by the ending of my story! I wasn’t always in my bedroom. I needed money, so I got myself a paper route delivering in apartment buildings; this is how I was able to buy by teddy bear, Wish Bear. My three-piece set from my favourite store (bra, panties, and garter belt). I had 100 papers to deliver. There were a lot of seniors living in these apartments, and these buildings had milk boxes. Everyone asked me to put the papers in the milk boxes because they didn’t like opening their doors. I collected payment every week, and got great tips for this; and of course, I was wearing my three-piece set under my clothes. My mom did one right thing for me: she saw much money I had, and took me down to the bank to open an account for me. I had over twenty dollars to deposit, but by the time I had turned 16, I had over 2000 in the bank.

I didn’t like playing boys’ things baseball and football; I’d rather play house and with dolls. I felt like I didn’t fit in anywhere. I was alone, and didn’t let anyone close to me, besides playing with the kids on the street. I felt like I couldn’t cope everyday, but Wish Bear was always there for me. I was always crying, and easily slept until noon on the weekends when I didn’t go to school, except on Saturday when cartoons were on from 7-12. I had breakfast and lunch, and then went back to my bedroom to put my dress back on. I loved to wash my clothes; we had a wringer washer where two rollers squeeze water from the clothes. I’d take them to my bedroom, and put them on the clothes lines I had strung around my room. I had black lights and fluorescent posters on my wall to give my room a glow. I always played my records real loud, and I had an electric guitar with which I drove my neighbours nuts. I got my records at my favourite store. If you remember the CHUM charts, they posted the top 30 hits. 45 RPM records were 25 cents, and LPs were about 5 dollars.

When I finally left school, I got a job printing. I was 17 years old then, and decided I wanted a car. They had a driver training program called Pro Drivers; 25 hours in the classroom and 25 hours in the car. I passed the first time, and I bought my first car: a 1966 Dodge Polara. It had a 318 engine and was white. This car gave me a new sense of freedom. It was 200 dollars, and my insurance was 600 dollars! I drove that car everywhere. After work, I would drive to Wasaga Beach and stop at KFC before I got there and would sit on the beach and watch the sun set while listening to the radio and reading my book. I would have my underthings on, thinking about wearing my dress, but was worried about what others would say.

Once my work probation was over, and I was employed permanently, I rented myself an apartment (more freedom!) and decorated it bright orange. I stayed in my apartment as much as I could, dressed in my dresses, and left only when I had to. I didn’t socialize with the other tenants in the building, and I had to be careful when the superintendent came in; I had to make sure that all of my clothes were put away and out of sight.

Chapter 4

I want to take you to when I retired after 40 years of work, but first, I’ve been asked to describe who I am. The name I chose for myself is Aine Gordon. I volunteer for the Southeast Grey Community Health Centre in Markdale.  I run a walking program in two locations, a pole walking class on Wednesday mornings, and on February the 28^th 2018 I started an LGBTQ support group that runs the last Wednesday of each month. In May I received my pin recognizing 5 years of volunteer service.

Back to my story: I retired 4 years early (my job disappeared). In 2012 I decided to live in Markdale. On March 28^th of that year I woke up to a blood clot in my left leg; it was swollen to twice the size of my other leg, and so off to Markdale hospital I went. The surgeon told me that I needed a new doctor to look after me, and it was at the Southeast Grey Community Health Centre that I met the most passionate doctor that I had ever met. Due to life’s problems, I put on a lot of weight from drinking beer and comfort food. I told my doctor that I needed to lose weight. This is when I started in the walking program and was referred to the dietitian. In 10 months, I lost 82 pounds. Then, in 2013 I got the nerve to tell my doctor that I wanted to be a woman. I was started on estrogen patches. I have to say that this has been an incredible journey, my emotions were getting the best of me. I was always crying at the smallest things. The breast growth I was experiencing was very painful, but it was a good pain. But at times I could hardly breathe. In the beginning it was easy to hide them, but after several years it became harder to. I wore my large dress shirts I used to own in my attempts to hide them. This is when I decided to transition: June 5^th 2017. I said that I didn’t want to hide anymore; it was time to show the world the real Aine: a transgender woman. This is how I did this: I told my coordinators right from the start that I wanted to be a woman. When I told them the date that I wanted to transition, I took two weeks off, and the first week the coordinators went to all of the places I volunteer for and read my message to all of the participants. Then they had the other week to think about it. On the Monday I returned, I was so scared (sugar-coated) that no one would show up, but everyone did; they wanted to meet Aine. I was told I was beautiful and I cried; the whole week was wonderful. Everyone gave me great support in my programs, which is why I wanted to start and LGBTQ support meeting group. I have a great team at the Health Centre and good turn outs from the community. I’m a caring and loving person, and especially want to help others that want to transition. In all my life, this is the happiest I have ever been. It’s been the best year, and so many doors have opened up for me. I’ve received a lot of attention and congratulations, and have been to events for the Health Centre such as the health fair, the senior’s fair, the farmer’s market, etc. When it comes to volunteering, I’m there! I feel so comfortable talking to people since my change, and I love meeting new people.

In our recent meeting at the Health Centre, it was suggested that we start a transgender support group to help people transition in the community. We should be starting in the Fall, but we still have to determine a date. Anybody that is interested in receiving more information can call the Health Centre: (519) 986-2222 ext. 6376. Calls to the Centre are confidential. We have posters on display. I’d love to meet you!

Thanks for reading my story! Soon I will have a book out detailing more of my life experiences and traumas. Watch for it soon!

With love,

From Aine Gordon

The post My Adventure Coming out as Trans appeared first on The Gilbert Centre.

I’ve been getting asked this question a lot so I decided to put all of the information I know about accessing PrEP in one spot.

So you’re living in Simcoe or Muskoka and you’ve read about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), the once-a-day pill for HIV-negative people that prevents HIV, and are wondering how to get it. This blog post will answer questions about cost, subsidization, and how to access it without travelling to the GTA.

Before we get started, we need to get some basics out of the way about the two approved medications being used as PrEP:

1. Truvada

This is the brand name most people are familiar with. The regular cost in Ontario without any coverage is approximately $1000 per month.

2. TEVA

This is the generic medication that is just as effective for usage as PrEP and works the same way. The regular cost in Ontario without any coverage is approximately $460 per month.

These are substantial monthly costs, so once you get your prescription from a doctor, here are some other options you could consider.

4 Ways You Can Access Free PrEP

1. You are Under 25

Starting January 1^st if you’re under 25 years old, you can get the generic form of PrEP called TEVA free of charge using your health card.

2. Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB)

The Ontario Drug Benefit covers both Truvada (the brand name form of PrEP) and TEVA (the generic form of PrEP). If you fit any of the following criteria, you can already access PrEP for free if you have a prescription.

• You’re 65 years of age or older
• You’re a client of the Ontario Works (OW) Program
• You’re a client of the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP)
• You’re a client of the Home Care Program
• You’re living in a long-term care home or a home for special care

3. Non-Insured Health Benefits Program

If you’re a client of the Non-Insured Health Benefits Program for First Nations and Inuit people, you can access Truvada for free.

If you are a First Nations or Inuit person and are not sure if you are eligible for NIHB, you can contact the Ontario office of NIHB at 1-800-640-0642 or NIHB National Headquarters at 1-866-225-0709.

4. Private Health Insurance

If you have private health insurance, sometimes it will cover the full or partial cost of TEVA or Truvada. The best way to figure out if you have coverage is to call your provider and ask whether your specific plan covers either one of those medications. Remember, just because your friend with the same private insurance company has it covered, doesn’t meant that you have the same health insurance plan as they do.

2 More Ways to Get PrEP at a Lower Cost

1. Trillium Drug Program

The Trillium Drug Program is a great way to reduce all your medication costs. Depending on your household income, you could pay a certain deductible 4 times a year. To find out what your Trillium deductible would be, Use this Trillium Deductible Calculator. As a client of the Trillium Program you’ll be eligible for TEVA.

2. Buy PrEP Online (…and crossing the border)

The option of buying PrEP online requires quite a bit of work on your end, but can get the cost of PrEP reduced to $135 for a 90 day supply (about $45 per month). Of course, this is not factoring in the cost of traveling across the border and accommodations. It also requires interacting with border services, which we recognize can be a challenge for many folks.

Once you get your PrEP, you can use this free text-message reminder created by the Gay Men’s Sexual Health Alliance to help remind you to take your pill once a day!

The post Is PrEP Free for Everyone in Ontario? appeared first on The Gilbert Centre.

Some harm reduction strategies that can be followed are:

• Avoid using alone, use with friends or those you trust
• Use a ¼ of your normal dose, this way you can see how your trip is
• Have a naloxone kit or two on hand in case of a poisoning. Naloxone only works on opioids (heroin, morphine, fentanyl). However, naloxone is safe to use even if it isn’t an opioid poisoning, there won’t be any effect on the person. When in doubt use naloxone!
• Smoke a small portion of your drugs prior to injecting. Inhaling the drug is less likely to result in a poisoning. You’ll be more likely to pass out before you take enough to result in a poisoning.
• Avoid slamming your hit when injecting, push slowly on the plunger to assess how you feel.
• Use a trip sitter, they’re a friend who’ll monitor you while you’re using

How to recognise an opioid poisoning:

• Loss of muscle control
• Difficulty breathing, or shallow breathing
• Falling unconscious rapidly
• Difficult to wake
• Difficulty walking or talking
• Cold, or clammy skin
• Tiny pupils
• Blue or purple tinge to lips or nails

Some additional strategies to reduce a poisoning is to use a drug testing kit, these are widely available online and are easy to use. As well, if you’re in a city that has an Overdose Prevention Site (OPS), or Safe Injection/Consumption Site (SIS), use these as well. They are staffed by professionals and peers who can help you use safer and show you how to use. They also have a place and chill out while you to wait after you’ve used. This reduces the likelihood of you having a poisoning.

In Canada, if you call 911 to report a poisoning, you have some protection from prosecution from the Good Samaritan Act which was passed this year. The act covers you if you are in position of drugs and have no outstanding warrants for arrest. This reduces the fear of calling 911 if the police show up.

Generally, the police don’t show up to medical calls. A good tip to reduce them from coming however is to say the person is having difficulty breathing, and avoid mentioning drug use over the phone. Once paramedics arrive, tell them what the person took and how much. If you are still concerned about being arrested, call 911 and let them know exactly where the person is, unlock any doors to the person, and leave the person in the recovery position. Be sure to leave a way for the paramedics to know what the person took, and how much of it.

For additional information, check out http://torontovibe.com/

Contact Matt Turner, Peer Support & Harm Reduction Coordinator for further information.

The post Harm Reduction for Opioid Users appeared first on The Gilbert Centre.

Looking back now, I didn’t have the best childhood, but it had nothing to do with who I was but more about who I was around. I fell upon bad situation after bad situation, but I’m still standing if that means anything.

I don’t know where to start, so I’m going to start back when  was barely old enough to understand the world around me. I was a very creative child growing up. Some of my favourite things to do were drawing, playing with dolls, and playing pretend in my backyard, but there was one thing that to this day I still love to do today.

At a young age I was exposed to the world of the catholic church, and even though I have my fair share of bad church stories, the one good thing that came from it was music. The church taught me that I love to sing, I now sing almost every day. I ended up loving music so much that I started writing music at a young age as well, even though it was not the greatest.

 After I fell out of the church, I ended up going to a school where the children were not kind to outsiders. I started going to this school in the second grade, so all the kids already had formed groups and knew each other. Almost immediately I was shunned out, and the kids had no problem letting me know. I was never really directly bullied, but I was outcasted by the other kids. I made a few friends here and there but because of the rumours that were made up about me, kids didn’t want to get close to me because they were afraid that it would affect them. This became a real issue when kids started to say that I was gay, and I didn’t even know myself at this point. This unfortunately made all the guys not want to be around me, because somehow my gayness would rub off on them and they would magically become a gay. This combined with the fact that girls only ever seemed to play with other girls meant that I was alone, a lot of the time.

Because I was never close to my peers, I found something else to get close to, my grades. Very early I started becoming friends with teachers instead of students, and this led to me focusing on my grades. When no one wants to be around you in school, what do you do? Well I cried a little and then moved onto doing something productive and that was school.

After a while people would talk to me more often but it still wasn’t a lot. I got comfortable in my routine and then I was faced with the biggest identity crisis I have ever dealt with. My cousin had just come when I was in grade 6 and this got me thinking about something I never really thought about. Was I gay? I mean, kids used to call me that but I never paid it much mind. This was a two year process of me playing the mind game “gay or bi”. I wanted to be bisexual so bad, I thought at that time it would make my life so much easier. I spent the first year trying to convince myself that I was bi, because I thought that if I liked girls too, then I could a “normal life”. .After a while, I gave up the fight because I wasn’t going to win. I was what and I was, and that was gay.

After my grade 8 graduation, I was invited to a party with all the other graduates. My presence had already angered a few people, but I was determined to go because I knew highschool was going to be completely different, and I like free food. This was the place where I came out to my peers. It started with a game of truth, which is just like truth or dare just without the dares. This kid turned to me and asked “Truth?”

I said “sure”

“Are you Bi?” he said without almost any thinking, because he knew exactly what he wanted to ask.

I obviously said “no” because I wasn’t a bi

I asked a kid a question and it when around for a bit, and then the same kid was up again and he asked me again “truth?”

“Yes” I replied

And then he asked the question that every kid on the playground dreads to hear “are you gay?”

At this point, I was tired and I didn’t care so I just responded with “yes”

And then he had a bit of a freak out moment, asking me if I was sure, and I was.

After that I went into high school, and this is where the gay dynamic flipped. Immediately I was almost popular. Everyone knew who I was and wanted to be my friend. Suddenly everyone knew I liked to sing, everyone knew about my love life, everyone knew my name.

That first year was great, people wanted to be my friends and were nice to me, but that was until the next year when I realized what was going on. I was a dinner conversation, something for people to talk about. I came to the understanding that people only ever talked to me so that they had stories to go tell their friends, or they wanted me to be their gay best friend. I was no longer a person, I was a conversation piece.

Naturally I fell back into old habits of focusing on school, but I got to do what I liked more often, like vocals.I also joined clubs and tried to get involved in my community, I even started painting, and I like to think that I got pretty good at it.

I joined my school’s GSA but we named it the Equality Activists Alliance to help open to more members. I ended up becoming the backbone of this club. I was the go to speaker, I planned almost all the events, and it gave me purpose. I even got to speak to all the principals in the county on a panel made up of other LGBTQ+ youth, just talking about the system.

I did make friends that I’m still friends with and these people I wouldn’t give up for anything. These few friends are the world to me, and they are what got me through the suffocating isolation that I was shown.

One good thing came out of my shunning, when I graduate, I will graduate as an Ontario scholar and it gave me time to figure out and plan what I wanted to do after school. I’m not going right into post-secondary, I’m going off to Ireland to learn how live on my own and save up money for post-secondary.

Now I know this story seems very hopeless and suffocating, but I found what I loved to do. I learned to love painting, I am still singing, I became the head of my GSA, and I am graduating as an honour student. It was difficult, but I got through it. Also remember, this story focused on my school life, and like any life, there was much more going on that helped me get through, like LGBTQ+ community activities, my first pride parade, my love life. There is always something to focus on, and I chose school in more than one way, so remember that when you feel down.

What are you going to focus on?

The post My Coming Out Story appeared first on The Gilbert Centre.

The Guide was developed in partnership with Kelly Speck, a student of the Biomedical Communications program at the University of Toronto.  Kelly was at the launch to introduce the guide and provide a real time demonstration. Although the online guide is developed with Primary Care physicians and nurses in mind it can be a great advocacy tool for psychologists, registered social workers and support workers with transgender clients.  The guide could be used directly with the trans person seeking information or to inform a clinician planning to embark on advocacy for their client.

During the launch one of the presenters stated the Trans Primary Guide is “another step towards decentralizing the information that has historically been held in large urban centres like Toronto”.  Is this not exciting!?

Links:

Trans Primary Guide-  http://www.rainbowhealthontario.ca/TransHealthGuide/index.html

Guidelines and Protocols for Hormone Therapy and Primary Health Care for Trans Clients- http://www.rainbowhealthontario.ca/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2015/04/SHC-Protocols-for-Hormone-Therapy-Final1.pdf

Rainbow Health Ontario- http://www.rainbowhealthontario.ca

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Jeff has overcome many obstacles throughout his life; HIV being one of them. Although Jeff acknowledges that he was scared when he received his diagnoses, he also says that once he discovered it was not a death sentence, it proved to have a silver lining; giving him the opportunity to experience things which he would not have otherwise; to meet some of the best people he’s ever known and to be a part of a caring & supportive community.

Jeff sees his art as a means of bringing joy & laughter to others – ‘to be able to create something that gives someone a chuckle, something that may help someone else is great.’ He also recognizes his art as a form of therapy, an outlet that has allowed him to take his mind off of some of his challenges, clearing his mind and providing a positive means of expressing himself through humour.

When asked where his ideas come from he says they seem to just come to him; often when he is trying to fall asleep or feeling stressed he will put some thought into his artwork and ideas will form – he enjoys putting humans into animal situations and vice versa; taking everyday situations and finding the humour in them. Jeff has a Mother, Father & Brother who also bring him inspiration through humour; being funny runs in the family. He is incredibly grateful for the ongoing support and love that his family has provided through the years, saying ‘they’ve made a big difference in my life, I wouldn’t have been able to spend as much time on my artwork as I have if it wasn’t for them and their support – and the art has helped me deal with many of the tough times.’

When dreaming about the future, Jeff aspires to someday have a book of his comics published and looks forward to continuing to pursue his love of cartooning.

Jeff has recently published his first e-book, click here for more information on how to purchase it.

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