[Fergal]

I Met Paul Graham Once

With all the recent events and changes in relation to diversity and transgender issues, I thought this post was very powerful. It clearly and personally explains the difficulties and hurts that some people experience on a day to day basis.

[OldGuy]

After reading your referenced article, I was reminded about a high school classmate and his life story.

I grew up with Carl. There was nothing unusual about him. We all went our separate ways after graduating from high school, never expecting to see each other again. I had moved to another town and was grocery shopping when I ran into Carl at the store. He had also moved to that town and invited me to visit at his home to meet his wife and reminisce about our old days. We had a great time for that afternoon, but that was the only time we got together.

We met again at the 20 year class reunion, but what a shock. There was a very attractive lady at our reunion, but no one remembered her. She seemed to know who everyone was and the rest of us were confused. She had a name tag "Cheryl" but even after reviewing the yearbook we were all puzzled. She was not listed.

Near the end of the reunion, she finally revealed that she was our former Carl! Yikes!

It just so happened I was running our high school alumni association and maintained all the class directories. Cheryl began contacting me to update her own listing. She called me several times over the years, each time to discuss her latest life challenges. It was almost as if she was leaning on me as a counselor rather than just a scribe to maintain connections. She described a bitter life.

The last time she called, she wanted to meet face to face. I agreed and went to our brief meeting. Holy Mackeral! She had decided to go back to a male, of course even missing some equipment. Her previous female image had collapsed, and she now looked like a lumpy burlap bag full of potatoes.

Life had not been happy and she wanted to quit the game. I never heard from her again but do think of him?her from time to time.

[Fergal]

Thanks OldGuy, that was brave of Cheryl to attend the class reunion when she had made a complete change. Hopefully he/she is doing OK now.

[ptrikha21]

A long read but it does illustrates the complexities of the society and the discrimination and bias that Transgenders face.

[arunima]

The story of Carl/Cheryl is intriguing. We all know it very well that life of people belonging to LGBTQ is never easy. They face trolling and discrimination. And it takes a lots of courage to come put.
Carl came out and became Cheryl. That was a big courageous step. Then going back to becoming Charl. Having married like a real straight guy...all this is too much yo happen in one life. I hope he/she is okay.
But gives me a sense that he/she was not sure and perhaps confused to keep swinging between the two identities.