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10 trans people on how their lives changed after transition

Transgender people overwhelmingly describe their lives after transitioning as “happier,” “authentic” and “comforting” despite a deluge of state legislation in recent years that seeks to restrict their access to health care and other aspects of life.

Over the last three years, nearly half of states have passed restrictions on transition-related medical care — such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery — for minors. Supporters of the legislation have argued that many transgender people later regret their transitions, though studies have found that only about 1%-2% of people who transition experience regret.

Earlier this year, the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey — the largest nationwide survey of the community, with more than 90,000 trans respondents — found that 94% of respondents reported that they were “a lot more satisfied” or “a little more satisfied” with their lives.

Transgender Day of Visibility, observed on March 31, is an annual awareness day dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of trans people and acknowledging the violence and discrimination the community faces. NBC News asked transgender people from across the country to share how their life satisfaction has changed after transition. Out of two dozen respondents, all but one said they feel more joy in their lives. Here are some of their stories.

Ash Orr, 33

Morgantown, West Virginia

Orr, who is the press relations manager for the National Center for Transgender Equality, the trans rights advocacy group that conducted the nationwide survey, began socially transitioning in his mid-20s, and at 33, he received gender-affirming top surgery.

portrait — Ash Orr said gender-affirming top surgery has made him feel more at home in his body.Courtesy Ash Orr

“The impact of this surgery … has been life-changing,” Orr said. “My body now feels like a comforting and familiar home, a place I had yearned for and have finally returned to.”

When Orr isn’t working, he loves immersing himself in nature, whether that’s through gardening or playing pickleball with friends. He also chases tornadoes in the Midwest — “Yes, like the movie ‘Twister’!” he said.

“My transition journey has been a profound lesson in self-discovery,” Orr said. “It has shown me that there are countless versions of myself waiting to be unearthed.”

Criss Smith, 63

New York

After transitioning, Smith said he felt a sense of congruence between his internal sense of self and his external presentation.

Criss Smith worked in financial services for 30 years and now works as a substitute teacher. Courtesy Criss Smith

“I was so broken and uncertain, and now I have a profound sense of relief, empowerment and alignment with how I feel and being the best human possible,” he said. Smith said he worked on Wall Street in financial services for more than 30 years for major companies including Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan Chase. He now works as a substitute teacher for the New York City Department of Education.

“My mind is more at rest and I am at ease with every moment,” Smith said of life after his transition. “A joy fills my soul that I never thought possible before. I am truly living a full human experience presenting all of my authenticity. I live in a liberation garden.”

Gavin Grimm, 24

Hampton Roads, Virginia

Grimm was the plaintiff in a landmark 2020 court case in which the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the rights of transgender students to use the school bathrooms that aligned with their gender identities. In 2021, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case and allowed the circuit court’s decision in Grimm’s favor to stand.

Gavin Grimm, who was the plaintiff in a landmark trans rights case, and his cat, Rascal.Courtesy Gavin Grimm

Now, nearly three years later, Grimm plans to go back to college to become a middle or high school teacher. He came out and began his transition in 2013, and “to date, I have absolutely zero regrets,” he said.

“While I do still struggle with unrelated strife in my personal life, the ability to be myself fully and completely for the last decade has given me the strength and joy that I have needed to carry on,” Grimm said. “Despite these challenges, I remain very, fundamentally happy. Exquisitely happy, even, in just finding small joy each day in a world where I had the ability to access myself.”

Dani Stewart, 57

Springfield, Missouri

Stewart said transitioning was “a life saver” for her and that she feels more confident than she ever has before.

Dani Stewart would like to see better representation of trans people in media.Courtesy Dani Stewart

“I feel like I belong in society,” said Stewart, who said she was formerly a news desk producer at CNN and worked for various TV stations. “However, dark clouds remain for all trans people. We need better and more representation in media. We need to see more of ourselves integrated with the world around us.”

Andrea Montañez, 58

Orlando, Florida

Montañez said her son and her co-workers both observed the same change in her after she transitioned in 2018: They said they noticed her smile.

“You always were a nice person, but we didn’t know you could smile,” Montañez recalled her co-workers telling her. “I lost a lot, but I won freedom and happiness.”

Montañez is the director of advocacy and immigration at the Hope CommUnity Center in Orlando and is involved in advocating against legislation targeting LGBTQ people in Florida — work that she said has helped her build community, find happiness and “bring the magic” to her and others’ lives.

“We are a gift,” she said. “Trans people are a gift.”

Elizabeth ‘Lizzy’ Graham, 34

Silver Spring, Maryland

In 2015, Graham said she kept a bag of women’s clothes in her car so that when she finished her shift at work as a tech support professional, she could drive to a Starbucks and change in the bathroom. She was also driving for Uber at the time, and one day she decided to dress as herself so she could practice coming out to her passengers before she came out to her family.

Lizzy Graham practiced coming out to her Uber passengers before she came out to her family in 2015.Courtesy Lizzy Graham

She came out fully in the summer of 2015, and said her gender dysphoria, or the distress caused by a misalignment between one’s sex assigned at birth and gender identity, went away with time.

“Once I began my transition journey and began living full time, my focus and productivity improved,” she said. “Many friends and people I know who knew me prior to transitioning said that they could tell I was happier now that I came out and was living my authentic life.”

Now, Graham is a service coordinator who helps autistic children who receive Medicaid-funded services, and she leads a support group for transgender people in her area.

Jordan Reid, 27

Harper Woods, Michigan

Reid said her coming out as a transgender woman in 2022 happened alongside a number of other life changes. She had just gotten divorced, and then she dropped out of medical school, or, as she says, “exploded” all of her career aspirations.

Jordan Reid said transition helped her love her singing voice.Courtesy Jordan Reid

But the last two years have been much happier, she said. Reid is back in school studying computer science and data science, and has rekindled her love for music. She has played guitar since she was 10, but said she stopped because she didn’t like her singing voice. Now, she sings in the shower every day.

“On paper, it may look like I have taken quite a few steps back in life,” Reid said. “In reality, what’s on paper doesn’t matter one bit if, instead of sacrificing my joy, I get to spend the majority of my time not only smiling, but truly feeling a reason to smile.”

Tiffany Jones, 35

Newark, New Jersey

Jones, who works in an Amazon warehouse, said transitioning has helped reduce her suicidal ideation.

Tiffany Jones cosplaying as Sailor Saturn from “Sailor Moon.”Courtesy Tiffany Jones

“I am happy that I am living as my unapologetically authentic self,” Jones said, adding that her transition “helped me improve my self-confidence” and allowed her to be more creative. She now writes poetry, cosplays as anime characters and has a stronger support network, she said.

She said she worries about her personal safety as a Black trans woman, but “I just think about the positive things in life, and that there’s so much out there in the world, so much inspiration.”

Kylie Blackmon, 26

Azle, Texas

Blackmon said her life changed dramatically when she came out in 2021.

Kylie Blackmon said “everything clicked mentally” after she came out as trans.Courtesy Kylie Blackmon

“It seemed like everything clicked mentally with me. No longer was I burdened with living a lie and having that weigh on me constantly,” she said. However, she said things are harder socially in her small Texas town of about 15,000 people, northwest of Fort Worth. She said she faces transphobia from her co-workers, and that some of her family members don’t understand her identity.

She’s currently training to be a phlebotomy technician, which is someone who collects and tests blood samples, and in her free time she enjoys doing makeup, shopping and spending time with her friends.

Cristina Angelica Piña, 23

Central Valley, California

Piña, a consultant, said that being trans can be difficult, but that “underneath this pain, there is an unfettered joy, power and beauty.”

Cristina Piña said being trans can be difficult, but that her “existence reminds people of choice.” Courtesy Cristina Piña

“My existence reminds people of choice,” said Piña, who enjoys fashion, poetry, rap, cooking and spending time with her friends and her dog, Bella. “We have the autonomy to decide how we exist in the world. We have the freedom to present ourselves in a way we see fit — not what others have placed upon us.”

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After a county restricted trans women in sports, a roller derby league said, ‘No way’

SEAFORD, N.Y. — They zip around the rink, armed with helmets, pads and mouthguards. They push, bump and occasionally crash out as they jostle for position on the hardwood floor.

But for the women of the Long Island Roller Rebels, their biggest battle is taking place outside the suburban strip-mall roller rink where they’re girding for the upcoming roller derby season.

The nearly 20-year-old amateur league is suing a county leader over an executive order meant to prevent women’s and girl’s leagues and teams with transgender players from using county-run parks and fields. The league’s legal effort, backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, has thrust it into the national discussion over the rights of transgender athletes.

Amanda Urena, the league’s vice president, said there was never any question the group would take a stand.

“The whole point of derby has been to be this thing where people feel welcome,” said the 32-year-old Long Island native, who competes as “Curly Fry” and identifies as queer, at a recent practice at United Skates of America in Seaford. “We want trans women to know that we want you to come play with us, and we’ll do our very best to keep fighting and making sure that this is a safe space for you to play.”

Amanda "Curly Fry" Urena, at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y. — Amanda “Curly Fry” Urena at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y., on March 19, 2023. Jeenah Moon / AP

The February edict from Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman affects more than 100 public facilities in the county of nearly 1.4 million just east of Queens.

Sports leagues and teams seeking permits to play or practice in county-run parks must disclose whether they have or allow transgender women or girls. Any organization that allows them to play will be denied a permit, though men’s leagues and teams aren’t affected.

Bills restricting trans youths’ ability to participate in sports have already passed in some 24 states as part of an explosion of anti-trans legislation on many subjects in recent years. The largest school district in Manhattan is among localities also weighing a ban, following a school board vote last week.

The Roller Rebels sought a county permit this month in hopes of hosting practices and games in county-owned rinks in the upcoming season, as they have in prior years. But they expect to be denied, since the organization is open to anyone who identifies as a woman and has one transgender player already on the roster.

The ban will also make it hard for the league, which has two teams and about 25 players, to recruit and will hurt its ability to host competitions with other leagues, Urena said.

State Attorney General Letitia James has demanded the county rescind the ban, saying it violates state anti-discrimination laws, while Blakeman has asked a federal judge to uphold it.

That a roller derby league has become the face of opposition isn’t surprising: the sport has long been a haven for queer and transgender women, said Margot Atwell, who played in a women’s league in New York City and wrote “Derby Life,” a book about roller derby.

The sport, which dates at least to the 1930s and enjoyed its heyday in the 1970s, involves two teams racing around a track as their designated “jammer” attempts to score points by lapping the other skaters, who are allowed to use their hips, chests and shoulders to slow them down.

The latest revival started in the early 2000s and has been sustained by LGBTQ+ people, with leagues frequently taking part in Pride parades and holding fundraising matches, Atwell said.

“You come in here and you say, ‘I’m a trans woman. I’m a nonbinary person. I’m genderqueer.’ OK? We accept you,” said Caitlin Carroll, a Roller Rebel who competes as “Catastrophic Danger.” “The world is scary enough. You should have a safe place to be.”

Blakeman has said he wants to ensure female athletes can compete safely and fairly. He held a news conference last week with Caitlyn Jenner, who won Olympic gold in the men’s decathlon in 1976 and later underwent a gender transition. Jenner, a Republican who’s frequently at political odds with the greater transgender community, has endorsed the ban.

Blakeman, a Republican who was elected in 2021, has said constituents asked his office to act. But many critics dismiss the ban as political posturing, noting he has acknowledged there have been no local complaints involving transgender players on women’s teams.

“This is a solution in search of a problem,” said Emily Santosus, a 48-year old transgender woman on Long Island who hopes to join a women’s softball team. “We’re not bullies. We’re the ones that get bullied.”

The ones who will suffer most aren’t elite athletes, but children still trying to navigate their gender identities, added Grace McKenzie, a transgender woman who plays for the New York Rugby Club’s women’s team.

Members of the Long Island Roller Rebels during practice at United Skates of America in Seaford, N.Y., on March 19, 2023.Jeenah Moon / AP

“Cruel is the only word that I can use to describe it,” the 30-year-old Brooklyn resident said. “Kids are using sports at that age to build relationships, make friendships, develop teamwork skills, leadership skills and, frankly, just help shield them from all the hate they face as transgender kids already.”

In the larger discussion about trans women in sports, each side points to limited research to support their opinion. And bans often do not distinguish between girls and women who took puberty blockers as part of their transition — stunting the development of a male-typical physique — and those who didn’t, something one New York advocate pointed out.

The order in Nassau County puts some younger trans girls at greater risk by potentially pitting them against boys instead, said Juli Grey-Owens, leader of Gender Equality New York.

“They are not hitting puberty, so they’re not growing, they’re not getting that body strength, the endurance, the agility, the big feet, the large legs,” Grey-Owens said.

The ban could even lead to cisgender female athletes who are strong and muscular being falsely labeled transgender and disqualified, as has happened elsewhere, said Shane Diamond, a transgender man who plays recreational LGBTQ+ ice hockey in New York City.

“It creates a system where any young woman who doesn’t fit the stereotypical idea of femininity and womanhood is at risk of having her gender questioned or gender policed,” Diamond said.

A 2022 Washington Post-University of Maryland Poll found that 55% of Americans were opposed to allowing trans women and girls to compete with other women and girls in high school sports, and 58% opposed it for college and pro sports.

Two cisgender female athletes said after listening to Jenner that men are stronger than women, so it will never be fair if transgender women and girls are allowed to compete.

“There is a chance I would get hurt in those situations,” said Trinity Reed, 21, who plays lacrosse at Nassau County’s Hofstra University.

Mia Babino, 18, plays field hockey at the State University of New York at Cortland and plans to transfer to Nassau County’s Molloy University.

“We’ve worked very hard to get to where we are and to play at a college level,” she said.

But that attitude runs against everything athletic competition stands for, and it sells women and their potential short, countered Urena, of the Roller Rebels.

“If people gave up playing sports because they thought they were going to lose, we wouldn’t have a sports industry,” they said. “I love playing against people that are faster and stronger because that’s how I get better.”

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In first, an Argentine court convicts ex-officers of crimes against trans women during dictatorship

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Judges overseeing a high-profile human rights trial in Argentina convicted 11 former officials of crimes against humanity on Tuesday, in the first case to focus on the former military dictatorship’s overlooked practice of committing sexual violence against transgender women.

The trial at the court in La Plata, a southern suburb of the capital, spanned nearly four years and added new details and insight to previously chronicled atrocities, deepening the nation’s understanding of its traumatic history. Transgender plaintiffs took the witness stand for the first time in a series of chilling hearings that put a spotlight both on the suffering of the transgender community and on the widespread tactic of sexual violence under the right-wing dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

Human rights groups estimate that 30,000 people suspected of opposing the military government were abducted, systematically tortured in clandestine detention centers and “disappeared” during the time.

In the highly anticipated verdict, 10 defendants were sentenced to life in prison and one to 25 years in prison for their roles in a scheme of violent repression that included killing, torture, sexual violence and the abduction of children born in captivity, among other alleged crimes that took place across four clandestine detention centers in the province of Buenos Aires. The judges acquitted one former official.

“What is different about this trial is that for the first time in Argentina and in the world, crimes against humanity committed against trans women in the context of state terrorism are condemned,” prosecutor Ana Oberlín told The Associated Press. “It was a good verdict, we are more than satisfied.”

The military dictatorship promoted traditional Catholic values and viewed LGBTQ Argentines as subversives in the heterosexual society. Even being openly gay could lead to jail.

Tuesday’s trial involved 600 victims and testimonies from hundreds of witnesses that dredged up accounts of sexual abuse specifically targeting transgender women, as well as cases of soldiers stealing babies from their detained mothers before handing them over for adoption to members of the dictatorship and their loyalists. A former police doctor who oversaw the births of women in captivity was among those who received a life sentence.

Hundreds of men and women in Argentina have grown up with false identities, oblivious to their true origins as the children of the “disappeared.”

Eight of the plaintiffs recounted being raped and tortured in one of Argentina’s largest clandestine detention centers known as the Banfield Pit.

The shouts of “Genocidal, genocidal!” erupted in the courtroom packed with survivors and victims’ relatives. After the verdict was read out, they wept and embraced. Many held portraits of their disappeared loved ones and posters with the slogan: “There are 30,000″ and “It was a genocide.”

The verdict comes as far-right President Javier Milei and his vice president, Victoria Villarruel, have challenged the legal reckoning of human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship, an effort that was championed by their left-wing predecessors. Argentine human rights organizations have raised particular concern over Villarruel’s family ties to the military and activism for victims of crimes committed by leftist guerrillas in the early 1970s. Victims of the dictatorship view that advocacy as implicitly justifying the state repression that followed.

Villarruel and Milei have publicly cast doubt on the toll of 30,000 disappeared, pointing to an independent commission that could identify only 8,960.

Most of the defendants in Tuesday’s trial have already been convicted in other cases and transferred to house arrest because of their age and deteriorating health. They tuned into the hearing by video call. The court ordered the defendants under house arrest to undergo new medical exams to determine if they could go back to prison.

Since the Argentine government in 2004 repealed amnesty laws that protected former soldiers, the country’s courts have handed down 321 sentences for crimes against humanity and convicted 1,176 people. The landmark effort to hold military leaders accountable for past abuses continues, with more than a dozen trials still underway in the country.

Activists hailed Tuesday’s verdict as a long-overdue step forward for Argentina’s transgender rights movement, which gained unprecedented momentum under the socially liberal former President Alberto Fernández.

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Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre and Victor Caivano in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report

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Florida district bars trans teachers from using preferred pronouns and bathrooms to comply with state law

A major Florida school district, in order to comply with state law, has issued guidance that will bar transgender employees from sharing their preferred pronouns and force trans students and staff to use group restrooms that follow their “biological sex at birth.”

Orange County Public Schools — the fourth-largest district in Florida with about 209,000 students at 210 schools — released the new guidance on Monday for the 2023-24 academic year.

The memo was issued by the district’s deputy general counsel to follow two recently passed Florida laws: House Bill 1069, which provides restrictions on teaching about sex and human sexuality, and House Bill 1521, which provides requirements for use of restrooms by gender. Both bills were signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May and took effect July 1.

The guidance, sent to the district’s superintendent and deputy superintendent, principals and executive leaders, summarizes the new rules — and punishments — laid out in those two bills.

Under House Bill 1069, a student or employee’s sex is defined by their birth sex — “the hormones and genitals present at birth” — not the gender they identify with, the memo said.

As a result, transgender employees or contractors “may not provide a personal title or pronoun to students which does not correspond [to] the employee’s or contractor’s biological sex at birth,” the memo said.

The bill also mandates that employees and contractors may not ask a student to provide his or her preferred personal title or pronoun, the memo said.

John C. Palmerini, the deputy general counsel for Orange County Public Schools, wrote in the memo that educators who are concerned about the usage of pronouns and “potential liability” can use the first or last name of a student when calling on the pupil, or their parent may submit a form to use a nickname.

Based off the law, the State Board of Education ruled that educators who violate the pronoun rule can face sanctions up to the revocation of their teaching certificate.

House Bill 1521 requires bathrooms, other than single stall restrooms, to be separated by biological sex at birth. The bill, dubbed the “Safety in Private Spaces Act,” impacts educational facilities as well as correctional institutions, jails and state-owned public buildings.

“For our transgender students and employees, they must be provided single stall restrooms for their usage,” the guidance said. “Transgender students and employees may not enter into a group restroom which is designated for the sex other than their biological sex at birth.”

The law also required that changing rooms be separated by birth sex. Transgender students must be provided single stall restrooms or coaches offices when changing for classes such as physical education, the guidance said.

The law requires a penalty for any student who “willfully enters a bathroom or changing facility designated for the opposite sex if the student refuses to depart when asked to do so by any instructional personnel, administrator, or school resource officer.” In such cases, disciplinary referrals will be addressed to the dean or administrator in charge of discipline, the memo said.

Staffers who use a restroom other than one based on their birth sex, with few exceptions, are also subject to discipline.

“Principals/Site Administrators shall work with transgender employees to identify single-stall restrooms so transgender employees may comply with the Florida law,” the memo said.

The guidance noted that if the school district and its employees do not comply with the law, the Florida Attorney General “is empowered to file a civil lawsuit to enforce this provision.”

Willful violations may subject the district to a fine of up to $10,000.

The district said Tuesday that the guidance was issued due to “state legislative and rule changes around the Parents Bill of Rights since last school year which impact students, teachers and staff.”

Not only is Orange County Public Schools one of the largest in the state, it’s the eighth-largest in the nation and is one of the largest employers in central Florida with more than 25,000 team members, according to the district’s website.

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Federal appeals court upholds ruling giving Indiana trans students key bathroom access

INDIANAPOLIS — A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that transgender students in Indiana must have access to the bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identities.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling Tuesday upheld a preliminary injunction from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana last year ordering the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville and the Vigo County Schools to give the transgender students such access.

Ken Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, issued a statement welcoming the appeals court ruling.

“Students who are denied access to the appropriate facilities are caused both serious emotional and physical harm as they are denied recognition of who they are. They will often avoid using the restroom altogether while in school,” Falk said. “Schools should be a safe place for kids and the refusal to allow a student to use the correct facilities can be extremely damaging.”

Martinsville Superintendent Eric Bowlen said in an email “we are reviewing the decision and evaluating available options.”

The Vigo County School Corp. said in a statement it was reviewing the decision with legal counsel.

The court opinion said the U.S. Supreme Court will likely step in to hear the case, or cases similar to it.

“Litigation over transgender rights is occurring all over the country, and we assume that at some point the Supreme Court will step in with more guidance than it has furnished so far,” the opinion said.

Although Indiana doesn’t have any current laws restricting bathroom access for transgender students, nearly a dozen other states have enacted such laws, including North Dakota, Florida and Kansas.

The case originally required John R. Wooden Middle School in Martinsville to allow a seventh-grader identified only as A.C. to have access to the restroom while litigation continued.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt in Indianapolis cited Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 in her ruling at the time. Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.

“The overwhelming majority of federal courts — including the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit — have recently examined transgender education-discrimination claims under Title IX and concluded that preventing a transgender student from using a school restroom consistent with the student’s gender identity violates Title IX. This Court concurs,” Pratt wrote.

The ACLU and Indiana Legal Services sued the Metropolitan School District of Martinsville in December 2021 on behalf of the transgender student.

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