Ben or Jen?

Hold on to your hats folks. This one may go on a bit of a rant at times. But the feelings are raw and true. So please bear with me and push through. I really didnt think Id be doing a whole poste about "the church" ever again. 😢  6 years ago the church I grew up in (the mormon church or the church of jesus christ of latter day saints) changed some policies in their general handbook to make things a bit more inclusive for transgender people. The changes were not super, but I saw them as a step in the correct direction and had hope for the future. These policies allowed for fully transitioned individuals to be baptized into the church in a limited capacity with leadership approval. This meant you can have a calling, but not priesthood or temple benefits. And transgender members who were taking hormones', but did not have any surgical alterations were able to socially transition and remain members in good standing. The policy specifically mentioned  that the church recogniz...

 My last post sparked people reaching out to be sure they were not causing me to feel cut out. I want to be clear here. There are still lots of good people in my life. If we didnt see each other much before, and that is still the case, but it has nothing to do with my transition, or if you are trying and messing up with how to act and what to say with my identity you are still counted as a supporter in my book. This is a learning curve for everyone. On that front, A friend who I feared I had lost because all we seemed to do is argue about trans stuff, and they told me they dont want me around their kids to influence the kids etc etc.. It seemed like their only experience with trans people before me was lots of misinformation from anti trans sources that have an agenda. Well, they reached out to rekindle our friendship. I was honestly a bit cautious. But we had a very good time catching up. They rarely messed up on my pronouns and when they did it was not with malus and quickly ackn...