Deborah Jean Oakley

Deborah Jean Oakley

Q: "What are the most difficult, and best, things for you about being transgender?"

A: "Being transgendered for me is living the feminine while having known the masculine. It is the joy of becoming and the remaking of self. It is the painful isolation of knowing that I alone can make this transition, but an implicit bond with wonderful souls who have trod the path before and the unexpected surprise of becoming an inspiration for others. It is the love of my sisters and the sorrow of losing my wife. It is the realization that if I can do this, I can do anything.

Being transgendered is a struggle not asked for, yet the joyful embrace of my true nature. Transgendered is what I am, one of few among many, embracing the polarity of human experience."