Being self-supporting is important to me.

For me, it was never a question of whether or not I was transgender. It was a question of what I'd be able to handle transitioning and having to do it in the public eye. One of the issues that was hard for me to overcome was the fear of that.

What mom cares about most is that I'm happy, healthy and enjoying my life.

I've been embraced by a new community. That's what happens when you're finally honest about who you are; you find others like you.

There's a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99 percent of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they're mismatched. That's all it is. It's not complicated, it's not a neurosis. It's a mix-up. It's a birth defect, like a cleft palate.

I felt like one of the boys. My friends were boys. In school I related to boys.

As you get older it's more confusing. Suddenly, there's more pressure to fit in to your assigned gender.