Transgender Trucker

Byee it's all going to be up to you. You're are certainly not the first person with your orientation looking to be a trucker when you have Fatsquatch doing it, I personally met a trucker that was doing it. Rainy mentioned there was a Prime Facebook page devoted to it. There was Schneider instructor that was openly a lesbian. So in the grand scheme of things statistics really don't matter it will all be up to you. And if you can find someone along the way with a similar situation like you were posting about in the first place that will be a huge plus. You will be fine. This career is performance based not what orientation are you based.

Fatsquatch, can you please.post some informative links? i just looked and most statistic articles are a few years old and some dont have dates.

several mimicked the same stat that transgenders are 3 to 4 times more likely to suffer depression and said this about suicide.. (National Assoc on Mental Illness)...

"Suicide The LGBTQ community is at a higher risk for suicide because we lack peer support and face harassment, mental health conditions and substance abuse. For LGBTQ people aged 10–24, suicide is one of the leading causes of death. LGBTQ youth are 4 times more likely and questioning youth are 3 times more likely to attempt suicide, experience suicidal thoughts or engage in self-harm than straight people. Between 38-65% of transgender individuals experience suicidal ideation "

Those are really scary and sad statistics. So my honest and non judgmental question to you is this:

What advice would.you give a transgender entering trucking? Would it be more benficial to wait until after the hormone levels even out or one is fully transitioned? What challenges medically would someone face while OTR as far as shots, doctors visits etc? Are there any trucking articles/resources that could help prepare one mentally so that they can adjust to both training and transitioning?

just my two cents... i hate the term transgender. once someone transitions they should be man or woman. otherwise it seems as though they are continuing to stigmatized themselves which one article called an internal discrimination. the person struggled for years and decades to be the opposite sex once there, the term transgender deprives them of their accomplishment.

thanks in advance for.answering any of the above.

I have a whole bunch of links to various studies done in recent years by universities in different parts of the world, on everything ranging from quality of life pre/post transition to actual brain scans measuring brain structures of trans people versus cisgender people, but they're all on my laptop and my phone's version of Chrome doesn't remember them. Le sigh. Technology's GREAT...when it works.

Generally speaking, the overwhelming majority of cases of depression and suicidal ideation in trans people is experienced pre-transition and is largely related to social stigma and ostracization (or fear of it) from friends and family. Discrimination in employment and housing are also major hurdles faced by a huge number of trans folks. Those who are, for whatever reason, prevented from accessing resources to transition are most at risk of depressive and suicidal behaviors, and in particular access to HRT is hugely beneficial to trans people's stability and mood. Hormones are funny things. It's amazing just how much they control our mood and general outlook. Just look at what happens to women during PMS or after childbirth. Post-partum depression and post-partum psychosis are entirely caused by the sudden and dramatic changes in hormone levels in new mothers. But I digress. There have been a couple of studies recently that have focused on physical brain structures in trans people that have shown key parts of the brain more closely matching their gender identity than their biological sex, and it's believed that HRT stimulates these areas of the brain. Obviously more research is needed and ongoing, but science is learning more and more towards Gender Dysphoria being a physical trait in line with intersexed conditions than a psychological condition.

As far as advice? Whoo...um...that's a toughie. Obviously it can be done. I did it, others before me have done it. I guess the biggest obstacles would be how far into transition someone is and/or how well they "pass" (god I hate that term) as their "preferred" gender (that one too), and how thick their skin is. If someone is very early in transition and is frequently misgendered, they're going to catch a lot more grief than someone like me who is many many years post-transition. And being able to, when called out, say "Chuck you, Farley. If you're so smucking fart go in your own jack yard and back off!" is not always easy, especially without someone to back you up. Self-confidence helps too.

To be continued (hitting the character limit)...

Part2: Electric Boogaloo

As far as challenges medically, that's never been a huge issue for me. I've simply scheduled my doctor's visits for my home time, and take my medication on the road with me. I used to do my injections when I'd go in for a shower, but now I just yank the curtain and do it in the sleeper. Being solo helps, but even someone running teams could just stick their supplies in their shower bag like I used to. The biggest medical challenge would be a medical emergency, but that would be a challenge even without trucking. I will say that I've had a few instances where I've been on the road and needed to visit an urgent care clinic and had to disclose to the providers there, but aside from the *pause* *blink blink* *head tilt* "Okay then..." reaction I always get, it's never been an issue.

I can't really say definitively one way or the other whether any one person should absolutely wait to start training until a certain point. Everyone is different, everyone's ability to cope with stress and not get overwhelmed is different. I would say that it's probably going to be a bit easier once someone has been on HRT for a few months and their levels are more or less stable. But let's face it, there are a buttload of cisgender people with perfectly stable hormone levels who don't make it, so there are no guarantees.

I dont know of any resources specifically geared towards transgendered people in trucking. I know there are a few trans subreddits, so that might be a place to look. All the old Livejournal communities I belong to are basically dead, and I don't do Facebook at all, so I have no idea if there would be anything there.

For me personally, the biggest thing that helped in the beginning, and continues to help, is a strong support system at home. I'm extremely lucky, in that I have an amazingly supportive family and group of friends at home whose attitude when I came out as trans was "Um, DUH." Many many many MANY trans people have the exact opposite experience, so I'm beyond grateful for that.

So, um, yeah. Now that I've written The Great American Novel here...