I'm going to try and not mention the name of the person who inspired this post. The reason I am doing so is to protect this person's privacy - even though this person was "out" for the better part of a decade.
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I didn't know much about the LGBT community when I decided to come out. Even more importantly, I didn't know much about being transgender, nor did I know people who have identified themselves as trans and later decided that they were not trans. Today, I have found out that one person I know as a M2F trans gal is going back to live as a cisgender male.
It came as a shock that this person has reverted to the gender assigned at birth. But I saw a sign of this the other day, when I saw a post for a performance he was going to be in. Now that I know what is going on, I am glad that I didn't make the effort to go see him that day. I wasn't prepared to see him and be in a situation where both of us might be uncomfortable.
Reverting to a former identity is not easy, and takes as much courage as outing one's self in the first place. This person has found that living as a trans female has helped him in his life as a cisgender male. As for me, I have found that my male identity has improved, now that I am out and living as a bi-gendered person. Am I trans? Yes. I'd rather have been born with the other "plumbing" configuration. Yet, I don't have the severe gender dysphoria that many trans people have.
Hopefully, this person will be happy in whatever life brings to him/her. Will he revert to a trans identity? Some trans people have gone back and forth between identities. Yet, most tend to retain a trans identity once they are "out" to the world. I'm looking forward to being in contact with him sometime in the future. But I just don't want it to be an awkward meeting.....
