Emily

(she/her/hers) 

Emily Sloan is a white, transgender woman who always knew she was different. But Emily didn’t identify as transgender until 2019, at 62, when she came across YouTube videos by trans women sharing their stories and something “exploded in [her] head.” She currently lives in Birch Bay, Washington, with her wife of 37 years.

Here, Emily talks about coming out to her wife, her two adult daughters, and at work. She also discusses the joy she’s felt since transitioning, her growing self-confidence, finding trans friends online and a desire to be more social and build community.  

Related archival material:

In vignette 15, Emily mentions the 1992 film, The Crying Game. The film is discussed in the April/May 1993 issue of Gender Trash From Hell, linked here from the Digital Transgender Archive.

Citation: Phillippa, Xanthra.  "Gender Trash From Hell #1."  Pamphlet.  1993.  Digital Transgender Archive,  https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/xg94hp65x  (accessed September 24, 2023).

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Audio Stories | Transcripts

1. Coming Out to Wife (anxiety, family, coming out, spouses/partners)

2. Transitioning (affirmation, family, gender expression, medical care, medical transition, spouses/

3. Coming Out at Work (anxiety, affirmation, coming out, support, stealth, work, work support)

4. Relationship with Daughters (family, support, joy)

5. Finding Community (community, friends, online, rural life, support)

6. Discord (aging, community, online, rural life, support)

7. Ingersoll (aging, community, pandeic, rural life, trans support groups)

8. Community Groups (aging, gender identity, online, pandemic, rural life, trans support groups)

9. Realizations (adolescence, family, gender identity, identity relaizations, life course, parents)

10. Feeling Different (aging, anxiety, gender expression, work)

11. Representation (gender identity, identity relaizations, online, representations)

12. Realizing (aging, gender expression, identity relaizations, online)

13. Knowing Earlier (aging, identity realizations)

14. If Realized Sooner (childhood, identity realization, life course, parents, representation)

15. Representation (gender identity, representation)

16. Awareness of Trans Women (gender identity, represeentation)

17. Searching for Something (gender identity, representation)

18. COVID (coming out, online, pandemic)

19. Later Life Transition (aging, children, life course, spouse/partner, religion)

20. What to Wear (aging, gender expression)

21. Swimsuit (aging, gender expression, medical transition)

22. Clothing in Public (gender expression, gender ideals, medical transition)

23. Clothing Birch Bay (anxiety, gender expresion, survival strategies, urban-rural movements)

24. Clothing Seattle (aging, gender expression, urban-rural movements)

25. Bags (gender expression, survival strategies)

26. Earrings (gender expression, joy, spouses/partners, survival strategies)

27. Self-Confidence (aging, community, friends, joy, spouses/partners, trans living)

28. Out to Parents (coming out, family, online, parents)

29. Out to Siblings (family, coming out, support, trans loss, transition stories)

30. Out to Siblings 2 (anxiety, family, coming out, support, trans loss, transition stories)

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