Video Transcription

Gender Identity

I’m James, and I’m from Ben Style. I think it was about 8 when I first started questioning my gender, and I was around 16 when I started questioning my sexuality. I spoke to my close friends about my sexuality, and, you know, they were very supportive. They helped me kind of figure out how I was feeling and gave me the courage to talk to my family and friends about it.

I think the biggest challenge for me was probably other people’s reactions—seeing them struggle to come to terms with my gender identity and my sexuality. I think seeing my parents’ reaction to me not being who they thought they raised me to be was pretty tough. I think now, with my family, things are pretty good. You know, having gone through the hardship of coming out and transitioning—it was tough for all of us, but we’re definitely stronger having gone through that.

Video by headspace