Living Out Loud with Darian

A very important story was overlooked by much of the blogosphere and the mainstream media last week during the very high profile coming out of CNN anchor Don Lemon. Janet Mock, a web editor and writer for People.com revealed to colleagues and the world last week that she is transgender. A native Hawaiian, born to an African-American father and a Hawaiian mother as a little boy named Charles, Mock revealed her story in a moving piece in Marie Claire Magazine and recounts her difficulty as a transgender teen.


From Marie Claire


By the end of my freshman year in high school, I was regularly wearing women's clothes to school. But the fallout was swift and merciless. Fag! I can see your balls! The insults reverberated off the lockers and echoed down the school hallways. Though I was never physically threatened and never feared for my safety, the harassment was relentless. Not a moment went by that wasn't accompanied by a taunt, a slur, a cruel reminder that my classmates could not, would not, see me as I saw myself. "You're making people uncomfortable," one vice principal said while he looked me over with disdain. Soon he gave me an ultimatum: Wear a skirt to school again and get sent home for the day. But it was too late to turn back. I liked how I looked as a young woman, even though it meant exposing myself to ridicule. After that, I held my head high as I strode through the hallways in my miniskirts, past the haters who called me a freak, past the teachers who looked on disapprovingly, and past the vice principal who routinely sent me home.


I highly recommend that you click on the Marie Claire link and read Mock's story in it's entirety.She has come a long way since those painful days in high school. Mock has also recorded a video for the It Gets Better Project, you can watch it below.