When changing my child's diaper, I was asked...plainly......

"Where did you learn that?" Mary asked, watching from the doorway with a mixture of surprise and something else—something that looked dangerously like understanding.

"Just instinct, I guess," I mumbled, but the lie tasted bitter on my tongue.

https://thistleandmoss.com/p/my-house-of-pain-the-love-that-survived-my-worst-betrayal
#trans #queer #lgbtqia #nonfiction #reading #writing #author #biography #translife #comingout

Walt’s fists—always closed, never open—were meat mallets tenderizing whatever flesh they found. They left constellations of purple-black galaxies blooming beneath my skin, each bruise a dark star born of violence. Whatever he felt comfortable using on me, he used without hesitation or remorse.

https://thistleandmoss.com/p/my-house-of-pain-blood-versus-beast
#trans #queer #lgbtqia #nonfiction #reading #writing #author #biography #translife #comingout

At night, I'd watch her through cracked doorways, her silhouette hunched and trembling, and wonder which version of my mother would greet me in the morning - the one whose fingers would gently brush my hair, or the one whose hands would clench into fists at the slightest provocation. The uncertainty gnawed at my insides like hungry rats.

https://thistleandmoss.com/p/my-house-of-pain-the-devil-you-don-t-know
#trans #queer #lgbtqia #nonfiction #reading #writing #author #biography #translife #comingout

Years later, when I finally claimed my identity as a trans woman, stepping into the light of who I'd always been, I felt Helen's hands guiding mine, heard her voice whispering encouragement. The woman who never had language for what I was had somehow given me permission to find that language for myself....

https://thistleandmoss.com/p/my-house-of-pain-the-woman-a-child-once-loved
#trans #queer #lgbtqia #nonfiction #reading #writing #author #biography #translife #comingout

This is the first queer space story, a story with alot of queer coding in it and references to characters who are all actual people who have been in my life. So when you read any queer space story that I have written, this is where it all started.

https://thistleandmoss.com/p/my-house-of-pain-the-safety-of-a
#trans #queer #lgbtqia #nonfiction #reading #writing #author #biography #translife #comingout