My Yellow Brick Road of Gender Enlightenment

Once you start, you’ll never know where you will wind up.

Writer’s note: I admit this is not my usual somber discourse on the pains of gender dysphoria and the difficult world of being transgender. Look, I needed a break, drank some wine, and said, “Oh, what the hell?”. I wrote this a while ago as a series for Pen & Prism, but I thought I would consolidate it in a single story here. Yes, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was my muse.

Do with this piece as you will, but I do suggest that if you read it, a glass of wine (or bottle) is very handy, and let me know if it was worth writing. Being silent will only ensure more somber transgender dirges from me. Cheers.

Chapter 1: My Psychological House Is Torn Off Its Foundation

My gender journey has lasted a lifetime, and in the last five years has taken a right turn into the surreal. I was professionally diagnosed as transgender, essentially wired female before birth, and then born in a male body.

The more I pondered the implications of this discovery, the more my world began to whirl around me.