Читать книгу This One Looks Like a Boy - Lorimer Shenher - Страница 8

INTRODUCTION

THERE IS A line in one of my all-time favorite films, Moonstruck, where Ronny Cammareri (Nicolas Cage) tells Loretta Castorini (Cher), “Come upstairs! I don’t care why you come!” I feel the same way about you, dear reader. I don’t care why you’re here, I’m just very glad that you are holding this book, and I thank you.

I am just one transgender man. I don’t speak for everyone, nor are my experiences more universal than anyone else’s. I can only speak for myself, although I’m sure some stories in this book will resonate for others like me.

Perhaps you’ve picked this up because you read my last book. You might be the parent of a child questioning their gender and you’re looking for guidance. You could be an old fossil like me, wondering if it’s too late in the game to find some happiness. Or you might think this gender transition stuff is just so much garbage, the product of an over-indulgent age.

Welcome, everyone. Sincerely. I mean it. We will never show ourselves if we don’t talk to each other, even in our difference.

And if you’re that kid reading these words underneath the covers with a flashlight, terrified of what you think you might be, this is for you.

There’s hope for you.

Your journey won’t be easy, but you will never know the heights you can reach if you don’t stick around to find out.

I wrote this for you. I was you, once.

No one but you can know your inner world or your sense of self. No one can take that discovery from you. Some may try—out of a misguided notion of love, out of fear for you or themselves, in the name of whatever God they think they know the will of, or in the name of what they like to think is “normal” in this world. Let them try. Give them an honest hearing, but never let them kill your spirit.

Be strong.

If I made it here you can, too. I lived to tell my tale. And so will you.

LORIMER