Alabamian Atheist in Need of Advice

[Celi]

Thanks, guys.

An acquaintance of mine has an offspring who has started the gender transition treatment from male to female - it's a very long and carefully monitored process. She is still in the Real Lfe Experience stage.

http://transgenderexplored.com/hormone.htm

As you'll see from the above article, it's not a simple case of rushing out and getting hormone treatment. Anyone wishing to go through the full process has to be 100% sure it's what they want because there's no going back after full surgery.

http://transgenderexplored.com/surgery.htm

The person concerned has to be 18 as well.

My advice, then, is to concentrate on getting an education and think of the procedure as a goal for the future. As for your father needing more time to think about it after 8 months, well, it can be difficult for parents to get their heads round the fact that a son is really a daughter or vice versa. My acquaintance accepted the news straight away but it still took her a long time to get used to it on an everyday level.

If coming out as an atheist scares you at the moment get all the support you need from atheists online. You won't feel so isolated if you can talk to other people who don't believe in any deity.

I've done plenty of research myself. You don't have to be 18, and hormone therapy isn't surgery. I'm uncertain what to do about the situation with my parents, but I've been very certain that this is what I need for a long time. Thanks, though.