Help A Transgender Out?

@exiledastronaut: If you're looking for a region that is friendly to your life style, the PNW is almost certainly the best of all worlds. It's affordable, and places like Seattle and Portland are very friendly towards pretty much any lifestyle you can think of, unless you like owning guns. Plus you are close to Canada which is, I've heard, a fantastic and affordable place to go on vacation. Weather is much nicer here than people make it out to be, as well. It rains lightly through large parts of the year but we have some pretty amazing summers that rarely get hotter than you'd want them to.

If I had to recommend anything it'd be Seattle suburbs. Portland gets weird, so unless you like that, Seattle is a much less... I guess for lack of a less shitty way of putting it, try-hard version of Portland.

And Seattle is a treasure trove of opportunities. A ton of industries have major stakes in the city and surrounding areas. Especially tech stuff, but plenty of other things as well. A lot of major game development in the area too, not to mention some really exciting VR startups and stuff.

Education isn't much to look down on either, we have quite a few good school with a good amount of diverse strengths.

If you're going to move, distance should really only matter if you have a ton of stuff you care about taking with you. Sooner or later it's best to move out of the nest. Even if you are on good terms with family and have friends, it's always a good idea to seek out fertile land. It's a big move but I'd say it's worth considering long distance moves. Family and friends can always find ways to contact you.

Also? You owe your family very little, especially outside of whoever actually put money and time into raising you. And if they don't chose to accept, respect, or love you that is their decision. Trust me when I tell you it isn't something you can fight and it's not worth the trouble. If your blood relatives can't handle you, find people who can. It's what I did and I'll never look back. Family is over-rated. You can find a family anywhere.

Fellow transwoman here, I unfortunately can't help you directly as I don't live in the US, but I just wanted to post here and say how thrilled I am at how LGBT-positive this thread is! I didn't expect any different from the GB community, but to see those expectations confirmed is a good feeling!

I can't help you out in any way whatsoever, but I just wanted to say I completely respect that you are who you are.

As a man who firmly believes that he should have been a woman, I really enjoy hearing success stories about this sort of thing. Sadly I don't have the physique to pull it off, nor the willpower to change. If I had and thought I could pass as a woman, and if I had the capital, I would get a sex change in a heartbeat. Maybe someday.

I hope you find a fitting place to stay where you can be accepted for who you are.