Is it bravery to rise to the necessity of one’s own circumstance?

Is it bravery to admit that this was a necessary change because the alternative was suicide?

Or is it bravery that these people espousing this support are literally admitting that they know that being transgender is like volunteering to be a lifetime victim?

The reality is that if everyone just treated Trans people like everyone else, no one would feel obligated to highlight our bravery. All they’re really saying is that society is too broken and instead of trying to make society accepting they pat us condescendingly on the back and and silently think… I hope you don’t regret this.

As a counterpoint to the same conversation, I often think people resist Trans people because they think that by being different we are somehow trying to make ourselves unique in a world where they themselves don’t feel unique. This creates a strange dichotomy for equality. If they believe we’re trying to be seen as special and thus hate on us because of that perception, then they easiest way to rob us of what they perceive as special is not to hate us but actually treat us with indifference, ambiguity, and complete equality. Because — as Buddy from the Incredibles said — ”when everyone is super, no one will be.”

Equal treatment is literally the easiest way avoid these awkward “You’re so brave” conversations, and yet by pinpointing bravery they actually highlight an aspect of our being like it “needs” a spotlight. In a manner of speaking, calling us brave is likely making us a bigger target.

It’s so ironic that in order to steal our visibility from us, they just need to treat us like everyone else, instead they’d rather kill us. And that is why we’re brave… Because we dare to fight the odds that we’ll be murdered for being true to ourselves, in the hopes that maybe we might survive long enough to know what it feels like to just be treated normally.

It’s the Trans-Paradox.