Transgender first-year student talks acceptance, campus resources

Lizzi Kehoe | Contributing Reporter

Aside from balancing a premed workload and adjusting to life in a new part of the country, Troy, a freshman from Palm Beach, Fla., is also transitioning from female to male.

Troy’s transition involves both top surgery—like a mastectomy—and hormone therapy—a procedure that introduces hormones that are associated with the gender a patient identifies with. However, these procedures come at a cost—in Troy’s case—a cost of $8,500.

Although he wishes to get a job now in order to pay for the medical services, Troy’s parents have insisted he focus only on school. So, as an alternative means in order to raise money for his transition, Troy set up a GoFundMe page this summer.

“All the money is obviously going to my transformation because, as of right now, I’m totally on my own with it. Any amount is appreciated and every dollar literally counts,” Troy said. “As it is, there’s $290, which is surprising to me.”

Troy was also surprised by the resources available on Washington University’s campus and the generosity of its students.

“I asked about the resources on campus a couple of months ago. For example, who would I talk to if I decided that maybe I wanted to go get a letter that says I can go start therapy for hormones? And I received a lot of answers, surprisingly. [An LGBTQIA* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual/ally) group] even put the [GoFundMe link] on their mailing lists and Facebook,” Troy said. “A couple of people donated even before I got here, so that’s pretty nice. One of them ended up being my WUSA, so it just shows you how nice the people here really are.”

Coming from Palm Beach, Troy described his hometown and its residents to be on the more conservative and traditional side. He’s said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the kindness of Midwesterners and Washington University students, particularly because it contrasts with the atmosphere of his own home.

Troy formally told his parents about his transgender identity and desire to transition a couple of weeks after he turned 16.

“For a long time I had been planning to, but I never really had the courage to tell them. I told my mom first because my dad was at work,” Troy said. “It wasn’t planned. We were fighting about something, and I just blurted it out. Then I thought, ‘Oh crap what did I do?’”

After Troy told his dad, both of his parents had many questions. They were taken aback and assumed Troy was just going through a “phase.” For the most part, though, they were accepting, at least initially.

“But then they left the room, and 15 minutes later they said, ‘Snap out of it, this isn’t happening,’” Troy said. “That was definitely a tough moment. My sister was already away at college, so it was just me that they had to focus in on. Obviously, that was pretty hard for me, but I was used to dealing with things on my own by then. So I thought to myself, ‘Alright, just pick yourself back up, keep going.’”

Nevertheless, education continues to be Troy’s top priority. He’s currently applying to join the Washington University Emergency Support Team, and his transgender identity is just one component of his life.

“Obviously it’s important, but it’s like me saying I need to wear glasses, or something,” Troy noted. “Education is my priority; whatever else I have to deal with is fine. I mean I’ve been through worse, so nothing would surprise me. But I really like it here. I feel like it’s something that was meant to happen.”

Editor’s Note: We have chosen not to use Troy’s last name to maintain his privacy.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated for clarification.

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