Introductions - Kelly (she/her)

Hello, my name is Kelly.

I was lucky enough to have been assigned the name Kelly Schwab at birth in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Unfortunately, although the name fits my female gender perfectly, I was not given the gender assignment to match at the time. This was lost on me until about the age of four when it began to dawn on me that things were not the way they were supposed to be. 

 

Image by _Alicja_ from Pixabay 

In those early years, the world was very different in regards to being transgender. I was bullied in school for not conforming to the social standards of my assigned male gender and have struggled with it all my life. I did my best to fill the expectations of all those around me and be what they wanted me to be, but it was constantly a burden I carried in secret.

 

I am a huge Apple nerd; my first earrings were of the Apple Logo. After attending Sheridan College for graphic design, I sold Apple computers and trained designers on graphic design equipment. After spending time as a Systems Manager at a large design company, I headed off to start my own business in 2001, helping others to use Apple equipment effectively in their businesses, eventually developing that into a Media production business in 2009.

 

I married in 1985 and my wife and I built a life together, raising six children. All this time, being transgender never left me, and the pressure of denying and suppressing who I was continued to grow until I became suicidal and was clinically diagnosed with depression in 2010. On top of that, I became ill in 2016 with cancer, only adding more weight to my already difficult burden. But I am a survivor and eventually I beat the cancer. Unfortunately the gender issues continued to cause me difficulties and eventually resulted in the breakup of my marriage in 2019.

 

While recovering from the breakup and living with my parents for two years, I came to terms with my trans identity, and have begun to find peace about it. By the fall of 2020 I reached a point where I decided to transition full time. I found my own place to live and began HRT treatment, which was not well accepted by my parents initially.

 

Image by Karolina Grabowska from Pixabay 

Since then, though I have lost many friends and even some family members who choose not to understand, I have found many new friends who can accept me for who I am, and support me, along with an incredibly loving brother who instantly accepted my transition.

 

Although I am still a "baby Trans" in many ways, I am finding that the community has been amazingly supportive and I want to give back. I am excited about the Trans Canada Project, and believe my background in Graphic Design and my organizational skills will help to make it a success. I look forward to telling the stories of Trans people from across our country so that others like myself can see that there are many more out there like us - living their lives, authentically and happy.

 

This is my life, and this is my story.

 

Hugs,

Kelly