(My friend wanted me to write my story so she could submit it to something so this is it if you want to read it..I left out a lot of things but this is most of it.)

Hi, I'm Evan! But I wasn't always Evan, I was born Madison. You see, I'm a transgender male. It's kinda complicated to explain but I believe I was born in the wrong body.

I was born a girl but I always seemed to like the more boyish things on the spectrum. I loved dinosaurs and I played Nintendo games with my dad everyday! Sure the other girls called me a loser and confused. They knew I was a girl, and I knew I was too. Around elementary school, I started liking even more boyish things! I played sports, climbed trees, and loved bugs! And boy did I get bullied for being different. People just didn't seem to understand. But I started to.

When I was in 5th grade, my dad's boss invited us over. They had two sons and a daughter. Their oldest son was transgender and he was the one who explained that to me. Then, it all seemed to click! I'm a boy! I was born in the wrong body!
He told me how his parents were super supportive. I was so shocked as to what had just happened and then he told me. He was the one who helped me to pick my name. "Evan, I love it!" I told him. He smiled and told me about everything.
He moved away that year and I never got to say goodbye.

When middle school started I looked super girly and I was known as the lesbian loser. I knew I was smaller than everybody. I started to become more antisocial. Around 7th grade, I cut my hair in the middle of my language arts class. Everyone called me mentally insane and one girl called me mental and physical issues for the whole rest of the year!

8th grade was where everything changed. I was on an app that had a lot of chats with random people on the internet. They even had a transgender chat for people who are FTM! I joined it and I was on my phone constantly talking to these people. My mom noticed and got angry. She took my phone and checked it. "WHAT IS THIS?!" She yelled. I explained everything, crying. She told me how she loved me no matter what. I smiled at that. The next morning she pulled me into her room she tried to talk me out of it. I told her no. She said she didn't accept me. I cried again. It wasn't mostly put of sadness but out of anger! My anxiety had already been killing me and my depression made me want to kill myself constantly. I started getting dysphoria and that only made things worse! I was on the verge of killing myself and my mom didn't help.

I tried coming out again about 4 months later. It only went worse. She told me she would rather experience a family death 15 times then have a trans son. It broke my heart. I stayed up every night crying myself to sleep. I couldn't focus and I started failing. My teacher noticed and took me to the guidance counselor. I was actually shaking. I was completely scared of what would happen! I'd never been to a guidance counselor.

The guidance counselor was really nice, she made me feel really accepted and kinda happy. I did almost cry and I was having a lot of anxiety. She helped me threw it and told me about a gender neutral bathroom! She also used the name Evan and he/him pronouns!

The last few weeks of school I felt really happy and accepted. And then, summer started! I was able to talk to a lot of my online friends! I think the one who helped me the most was Connor. He helped me with so much and he also wanted to help others!  We made a program called "more than a rainbow" that is a suicide prevention program for the LGBTQ community!

I'm going to get my first chest binder soon and that will hopefully help my dysphoria. But I would definitely be dead by now it it wasn't for the people who saved me. To anyone who ever feels alone, you are not alone and everything will turn out ok in the end. You just have to find your own tribe of the most amazing and accepting people.