Gender Diversity Short Story - Anonymous

The Boy Slowly Came to the Realization that…

'A rainbow is a refraction of light

'It is a beam of light filtered through millions of raindrops, the light becoming seven pieces

'I am the light, and the world is my raindrop

'I am scattered, developed, refracted'

The pen stops moving. Cole looks up. His bedroom is cool, dim, and quiet. He's sitting at his desk, writing in a notebook, the pages illuminated by the soft glow of his desk lamp.

He looks around and suddenly realizes that it's raining. He stands up but right before he closes the window, a wind blows. He hears paper rustling behind him, as the wind turns the pages of his notebook. Pages filled with poetry, stories, drafts of letters. He closes the window, and the wind stops. He turns around and sits back down.

"Ah..." the page that the wind chose to stop on, is the page that he used to draft a letter, two years ago. "This brings back memories."

Two years ago, only his close friends knew that he was a boy. Although he had started to wear his hair shorter and dress in more masculine clothing, he wasn't fully out as a transmasc person yet.

He drafted this letter to send to his parents, to come out of the closet to them. Although he knew his parents were open about gay people, he didn't know if they would understand him right away. His eyes flickered over the words, as he re-read that first draft of the letter. The many crossed-out sentences, the tiny amendments scribbled above the main text, and the notes he jotted down in the margins.

At first, his parents didn't understand a lot of things. They tried to be supportive of him, and did their best to remember to use the name and pronouns that he preferred. But they also had a lot of questions.

How did you figure out that you're a boy? Do you know if you'll change your mind later on? Are you sure you understand the difference between someone having boyish hobbies and liking boyish things, versus someone who actually identifies as a boy?

Cole did his best to listen to them, but also communicate his own needs and wants. At the end of the day, they understood that this was who he was, and being out of the closet made him happy. So they supported him and always made sure that he knew he was loved.

"Cole, it's time for dinner, come and help us set the table!" His mom's voice comes from downstairs, bringing Cole back to reality from his memories.

"Coming!" he replies, closing the notebook and opening his bedroom door.

Before he steps out, however, he turns back to look at his bedroom one more time. Then his jaws drop slightly open. It is raining a bit right now, but he sees a rainbow in the sky. It's really pretty, and he feels happy that it's there.

Do Girls Dream of Electric Robots?

Liam is sitting at the table in the garage, working on the code for the robot. Something is on her mind, and she can't focus completely. The other day, a salesperson called the house, and in the call, they said... they said...

"Can you help me assemble this, Liam?" her friend's voice brings her back to reality.

"Sure," Liam stands up and walks over. Her friend is working on making the joints for one of the robot's legs. "This looks really complicated."

"It is. I don't actually know how to do it."

"Let's figure it out together!" Liam smiles and they begin.

The seventh grade science fair is still months away, but they were both so excited about it that they started working on it early. Even though Liam has been thinking about her secret a lot, the science fair distracted her for a while. 

The robot arm is actually really really complicated, and Liam gets really frustrated at one point. Her jaws clench and her face squeezes into a frown.

Her friend notices. He looks at her and holds her gaze. "It's ok, let's take our time. We've got this."

Liam takes a deep breath, feeling it settle down in the bottom of her stomach. She looks up and smiles. "Thanks!"

'My friends really help and support me a lot,' Liam thinks. 'I wonder... if I tell him about the thing that I've been thinking about, will that help me feel relieved?'

'But wait... how will my friends react if they knew? I'm sure him and I will be friends no matter what. But what if he freaks out about it? What if he gets mad at me?'

With these thoughts on her mind, she continues working on the robot. 

Eventually they finish making the legs. They open the garage door, plop down in those foldable sun chairs, and just look at the soft raining sky outside, feeling the breeze on their faces. The garage smells stale, but that stale smell is now replaced with the fresh air outside.

"Look, there's a rainbow in the sky," Liam says.

"There really is. It's nice."

Liam and her friend chats for a bit.

Liam feels relaxed. In fact, she gets so relaxed that she ends up blurting out the secret that has been haunting her. "Hey, can I tell you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"There's something I've been thinking about... it's really embarrassing though. You have to promise to not tell anyone."

"Okaaaaaay..."

Liam scratches her neck. She doesn't know where to begin.

She tells her friend about how a few years ago, during halloween, when she saw girls wore princess dresses and sparkly accessories in their hair, she really wanted a dress like that too.

She tells her friend about how last week, a salesman called their house and she picked up. Because of her voice, the salesman thought she was an adult woman and referred to her as miss. Instead of thinking it's weird, she felt really really happy to be referred to as ma'am rather than sir.

"I was thinking... I might be transgender."

"Oh... ok." The friend says calmly after a beat.

Liam's eyes widen as she feels relief flowing through her chest. “It’s cool?"

"Yeah. 'Cause I mean, it's just who you are. That's all there is to it."

Liam grins uncontrollably. "You're the best!!!" She hugs him, and he hugs her back.

That rainbow stays there, imprinted in the sky for some time, lingering even after the rain has stopped. It's pastel colors seem to brighten up even the grey, mechanical garage.

- Anonymous