I'm a very simple person, and I've had my fair share of things happen to me in my life. When I was in middle school I came to the conclusion that I was bisexual, and, yes, it does exist so please don't say it doesn't. Please don't ask me a bunch of questions about it either or try to tell me I'm wrong; this is part of who I am and I'm happy, which is all that matters. I also don't want to get with every person I see. Just wanted to put that out there.

Before I went to college I went to a few college events and met some pretty cool people. One of those people eventually became my boyfriend, but before he became my boyfriend, he was female. We started talking like most teenagers, and neither of us knew it was going to amount to anything serious. At first, it was just nice to have someone to talk to and he understood what I meant. I enjoyed his attitude and vibe and just the energy he gave off; he was funny, smart, and understood a lot of what I'd been through. He made me happy, and after all the stuff I'd been through, it was a nice change to be able to smile and laugh for almost no reason. I will also never forget the day he told me he was trans. He was terrified; by this time we had both become kind of attached to each other so he was scared that I would just leave him. Honestly, because of the way he started the conversation, I was terrified he was going to say he didn't want to talk to me anymore. So here we were both terrified of what the other was going to say.

Now, at first I didn't know what I was getting into; I didn't know that he binds his chest and it is destroying his posture and causes him so much pain. Now you would think he could just stop binding it, right? Wrong: if he doesn't wear his binder he doesn't even want to get out of bed; he cringes when he walks past mirrors because he hates the way he looks. It's a hard thing to watch when someone you care about almost can't bear to look at themselves in the mirror, or when they do all they can do is cringe. Simple things for everyone else are a difficult task for him. Getting dressed and finding a shirt that doesn't show his binder. Finding jeans that look manly but also don't swallow him. Changing five times in the morning because nothing fits right. When we first started dating he was so uncomfortable in his body that if he could just stay in bed he would have.

I didn't know that he was trying to get a prescription for testosterone. I'll never forget the day he texted me when he finally got his prescription for T and his first shot. He was so excited and happy you could never imagine the energy he had coming off of him when I saw him after; it was like the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. Now every Monday when he takes his shot he is so happy, and I see a glimpse of how he was for his first shot.

Now, yes, I am his girlfriend, but that doesn't mean I know everything about what it means to be transgender; there are so many questions I can't answer. I still have to ask my boyfriend things that to him are simple. There are also things he doesn't even know and he's the one going through it. Also please don't tell us it's wrong because we can't make children; please don't tell us that we are just lesbians and he will never be a man. Because in my mind he is just as much a man as any of you out there; he is also one of the bravest people I know for going through this just so he can be who he knows he is. People can be so cruel to him and they don't even know that they are doing it. You don't know what he's been through and what I've been through and learned since we started dating.

In this world I believe you don't choose to be gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, etc. I also believe that when dating someone, you aren't dating what's between their legs. You're dating someone because you genuinely want to be around them. So please, if you have anything negative to say to me or to my boyfriend, just don't. You can argue with me from the religious point of view because I am a Christian and in the Bible it says "above all else love", and that will be my argument to you. We could argue in circles, and nothing you say will ever change the way I feel about my boyfriend. So if you want to hate me because of that, I feel sorry for you because you're going through life with bias blinders on, and you're going to miss out on some pretty awesome people.