Life

Transgender man comes out to girlfriend: ‘I’m going to start transitioning now’

Transgender man comes out to girlfriend: ‘I’m going to start transitioning now’
Mitch Kellaway
Mitch Kellaway

Like many couples, Mitch and Jocelyn met on an online dating site. There was only one difference: Mitch was still presenting as a lesbian, having buried his transgender identity when he was 17.

He explains:

We actually met online, on the site OKCupid. So we had this great dynamic from the start. I was, at the time, really, like, [a] kind of butch- or masculine-identified woman, and she is and always has been — remains — a really feminine-identified woman. It wasn’t something, even when I entered the relationship, that I was thinking, “This is something I need to tell her about me.” It’s hard to explain how I had compartmentalized that part of me and just put it somewhere else, and it hadn’t come to the fore for several years.

A year into the relationship, Jocelyn’s faith in him had finally given him the courage he needed, so he braced himself and came out

I didn’t think I was going to feel nervous, but in that moment I did feel nervous. I started tearing up a little bit and crying, and I didn’t want to cry. So we were just sitting in bed, side by side, and I said, “I have something to tell you,” and I said, “I’m a man, and I am going to start transitioning now.”

And she said, “OK.” You know, So she comforted me. She hugged me. It was fine. And the next morning we woke up as if it was any other morning.

This is Mitch’s true LGBTQ story:

“I’m from Driftwood,” a collection of “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer stories from all over the world,” appears weekends on LGBTQ Nation. For more true LGBT stories, or to share your own, visit “I’m from Driftwood.”

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