Xbox Game “Tell Me Why” Gives Trans Teen the Confidence To Be Himself. [Video]

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As a kid, Evan never felt comfortable with “girly” things like dresses or dolls, and instead opted for the more masculine options. Even at a wedding at 10 years old, he was incredibly uncomfortable in a dress and makeup, and sat in a corner trying to avoid being seen.

The summer after seventh grade, Evan was playing the Xbox game “Tell Me Why” which features a trans character and suddenly something clicked: “Could this be me?”Sure enough, after some deep contemplation, Evan realized that he, too, was trans. After coming out to his sibling and making new and accepting friends, Evan realized it was finally time to come out to his parents.

While his family was driving through San Francisco on a visit, Evan let it out. “I think I’m transgender.” Evan started to worry when his father pulled the car over and his mom got out of the car. But his mom opened the door and gave him a big affirming hug – giving him the confidence to continue on his gender journey and live his life authentically.

Transcript provided by YouTube:

0:00
[Music]
0:04
I’m Evan and I’m from Somers New York
0:08
when I was younger I never really felt
0:11
comfortable with the girly things or
0:14
wearing dresses playing with all the
0:16
girl toys like dolls I always prefer
0:18
superheroes or
0:20
um
0:21
like superhero costumes especially for
0:24
Halloween every year for Halloween I was
0:26
never a girl never a girl figure I was
0:28
always Superman or something one year
0:31
was The Joker then in the later years I
0:33
was just kind of relaxing and then I
0:36
never really felt comfortable and then I
0:38
went to this wedding there was a not
0:40
that long ago I was around 10-ish
0:43
and I felt so weird because I had to
0:47
wear a dress and makeup and although
0:48
everyone’s like oh you look so pretty
0:50
you look so beautiful Not only was I
0:52
like not comfortable with everything I
0:54
was wearing I just didn’t feel right and
0:56
feel in my own space in my own skin I
1:00
sat alone in the corner I didn’t want to
1:02
dance I didn’t want to move I didn’t
1:03
want people look at me or anything like
1:05
that so the end of the seventh grade
1:07
year I started growing distant from my
1:09
friends because it was the summer and
1:11
sometimes people do that and I started
1:13
to go to more attached to video games
1:15
because my parents had bought me an Xbox
1:17
and I started playing many games and one
1:19
of those games is tell me why and that
1:22
game happened to feature a transgender
1:23
character the whole story wasn’t
1:25
completely about him being transgender
1:27
although while I was it’s a story game
1:29
so while progressing throughout the
1:30
story I realized how much I related to
1:33
the character and then when I started to
1:35
figure out transgender it’s an
1:37
interesting topic I looked into doing
1:39
like oh people could do a lot of things
1:41
with gender and I I found out hmm you
1:45
can switch your gender that’s that
1:47
sounds nice
1:48
and then I thought about it more deeply
1:50
once I finished the game I I honestly
1:52
had to take some time to just think and
1:55
I thought about it for like a solid
1:57
maybe even two hours just kind of laying
1:59
there thinking Hmm
2:01
could this be me I researched it a
2:04
little bit more and then I was like I
2:05
think I can relate to this
2:07
and then I knew my sibling Lee was also
2:12
having their own little gender during
2:14
and I came on to them thinking oh I’m I
2:17
think I’m transgender and Lee was
2:18
accepting and and I loved Lee for it it
2:21
was so supportive
2:22
and they helped me figure it out so much
2:25
of myself but then I decided to come out
2:28
to my friends because they’re like oh
2:29
this is good I know who I am now
2:31
and I came out to them and although they
2:33
sounded
2:35
supportive I guess they never really
2:38
sat with it if that makes any sense like
2:41
there was always kind of like just kind
2:43
of rude about it they’re like oh look
2:44
it’s Evan and like oh that’s nice and
2:49
they never really agreed with it then I
2:51
just moved myself from them and I
2:52
started to feel a little bit better but
2:53
I still felt a little uncomfortable
2:55
because my parents didn’t know I wanted
2:56
to come out to my mom because I felt
2:58
like uncomfortable about it and I
3:00
decided to and my mom was doing work in
3:02
San Francisco and revisitor we happened
3:04
to visit the Castro which is a lovely
3:07
little town and I actually felt really
3:09
comfortable in that town because there
3:11
were so many people who were supportive
3:13
about pride and gay people and lgbtq IA
3:17
and I just felt so like in my skin and
3:21
when I was there I actually bought a hat
3:23
that had boy in it in like capital
3:25
letters so we were driving down to the
3:27
Castro
3:28
and when we were about to leave and I
3:31
was I was like um
3:33
and and I just come out and say it and I
3:36
was like uh I think I’m transgender
3:38
there was silence and we were just
3:40
casually driving and my parents were
3:44
happy about it they were supportive and
3:45
then there was a bit of silence and then
3:47
my mom made my dad pull over and I was a
3:49
little scared for a second like oh
3:50
they’re pulling over what’s gonna happen
3:52
and then my mom opened the car door and
3:55
proceeded to hug me and that made me
3:56
feel so happy and supported and so glad
3:59
that she was accepting of me and I told
4:03
my parents like my plans like oh can I
4:05
cut my hair can I can I you know get all
4:07
the binder and stuff like that and so
4:10
when we got my mom came up back from her
4:13
work after we were done we were done
4:15
and we on my birthday I decided to cut
4:18
my hair and it was one of the happiest
4:20
things I was smiling because we had to
4:22
wear a mask at the time I was smiling so
4:24
much under my mask you could see my
4:25
little grin on my eyes when she when the
4:28
lady was cutting my hair and then later
4:30
on when school when eighth grade was
4:31
about to start I decided you know I want
4:33
to get a binder and when I bought the
4:35
binder we ordered it online and it
4:37
arrived in the mail and I was so happy
4:38
and I put it on and I felt so myself I
4:41
felt so glad so and I was finally in my
4:43
skin later on I was like feeling more
4:46
comfortable I made new friends were
4:48
accepting and relatable
4:50
and I went to this wedding in the
4:52
Dominican Republic
4:54
and at the wedding that the first time I
4:56
decided to dress up manly I wore a
5:00
button up it was
5:02
um it was green it was so pretty it had
5:04
like wooden buttons and then I wore like
5:07
little suit shorts and I went to the
5:09
wedding and then it was a beautiful
5:10
wedding and when I sat there it felt so
5:14
great because it was the for I felt so
5:16
comfortable and so happy just being me
5:19
and not having to hide or feel like I’m
5:21
in the third person a video game
5:23
everything just kind of wind in into
5:26
place like that puzzle that was always
5:28
just kind of in the corner in the closet
5:30
and you wanted to fix and you wanted to
5:31
like put it together but you never did I
5:34
finally put it together and everything
5:36
felt perfect and I felt so glad so
5:38
recently I went to my high school
5:40
orientation and honestly to that day I
5:45
just felt so happy because I was finally
5:49
myself I everyone knew who I was I even
5:52
asked the people to change my name tag
5:54
to Evan instead of my other name
5:57
and then I felt so like happy and so my
6:01
place and now it’s like the tide is
6:03
Switched and everything’s different and
6:06
I’m so happy about it now
6:07
and I’m really glad that I’ve discovered
6:09
this because now I feel like I can
6:11
finally be myself and truly who I want
6:13
to be
6:13
[Music]
6:32
thank you

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This post was previously published on YouTube.

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