Remember that all aspects of your identity are important and as far as possible, try to find resources, community, and stories that speak to your experience. Here are some people who might be able to help:
Are there any adults you know who are transgender or trans-friendly? This could be a family member, doctor, teacher, school counselor, coach, therapist, religious or spiritual mentor, or one of your friend’s parents.
To find a therapist who can understand what you are going through, look to see if you live in a city that has a LGBTQIA+ health center nearby. You can contact them to see if they have a therapist on staff, or to see if they have a therapist they can refer you to. If there is a community center for LGBTQIA+ youth in your area, they may also have a list of LGBTQIA+ friendly therapists, support groups, or counselors. The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association maintains a list of LGBTQIA+ friendly providers as well. They2ze is a mobile app designed to help trans and questioning youth to find informed and inclusive doctors and therapists.
Support groups can offer a friendly space to connect and share experiences with other young people.
Need to talk anonymously with someone caring and respectful? Call one of these hotlines. You can talk about anything, including your gender identity, romantic or sexual orientation, relationship issues, bullying, problems at work, HIV/AIDS, STDs/STIs, anxiety, safer sex information, suicide, and much more.
Meeting other people who are transgender or nonbinary can be life-changing, validating, and fun! You might even make some new friends.
Trans & nonbinary youth
You can find local LGBTQIA+ youth groups by checking The GSA Network, PFLAG, and GLSEN. If you want to chat with trans and questioning teens online, try Q Chat Space, TrevorSpace, or the LGBT National Help Center Youth Chatrooms.
Older transgender & nonbinary people
Local LGBTQIA+ centers can be a great place to get information and resources, find a community, and meet people who have already experienced what you’re going through. Visit CenterLink or GLBT near me to see if there’s one near you. The Gender Spectrum Lounge is an online space where transgender and questioning teens and their family members can find community and form their own chat groups.
How I feel Inside
Our gender identity is the gender we feel ourselves to be, who we know that we are inside…
Cisgender people identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, and transgender people don’t.
Gender identities other than girl/woman or boy/man are considered to be nonbinary.
Our gender identity is internal and not visible to others.
Who I'm attracted to
Our romantic orientation is the gender/s that we are emotionally attracted to.
Our sexual orientation is the gender/s that we are physically attracted to.
Our sexual orientation is not always the same as our romantic orientation.
A person’s orientation can change over their lifetime.
My Anatomy
Sex is a medical term that describes a set of factors related to the human reproductive system.
Infants are commonly assigned a sex at birth, based on the appearance of their genitals.
Intersex is an umbrella term for people whose chromosome patterns and/or anatomy do not fit typical binary ideas of a male or female body.
How I express my gender
Our gender expression is how we publicly display our gender.
This can include our name, hairstyle, clothing, makeup, pronouns, body language, way of speaking, and more.
Your gender expression may or may not match your gender identity and/or the expectations that other people have of you.
