What’s a thing you wish people understood about being trans, misconceptions, prejudices or other wise ignorance?

I’ll start. That gender affirming care is like wanting something like a new tattoo or a small but expensive gift to yourself. Sure it may seem like a luxury but it’s actually vital to a lot of trans people. I’m not saying everyone needs gender affirming care to be trans but for those who want it, it’s life saving health care. I say this at a time where I’ve been trying to get top surgery for about a year and a half now and I’m no closer. People keep telling me I’ll be fine without it but seriously they have no idea what binding and seeing my chest in the mirror does to me mentally and physically. For me, it’s like having benign tumors on my chest that I see every day, sure it’s not immediately life threatening but it could definitely lead to debilitating mental illness. It’s like I’m caught in a trap, sure maybe it’s a want to get out but it’s a pretty serious one, life threatening want.

I wish people understood gender affirming care can prevent serious mental illness or even death. I’m lucky enough to have a therapist I talk to, to help me deal with this stress of my dysphoria but seriously it’s very dangerous to deny people gender affirming care. It’s gets really expensive really quickly dealing with untreated mental health issues, then add on the cost of stuff like hrt, surgeries and other affirming cares such as shaving supplies, laser hair removal, binders, medicines, whatever you name it and you could be in debt for life. In conclusion, I wish people understood it’s a necessity to those who want it and it’s actually going to prevent more serious health issues and it’s just as important to have access to gender affirming health care as any other mental or physical health care.