Today I posted this on Facebook – I think that makes it official! I’m including it here for posterity.
ANOUNCEMENT
Hi Everyone! I hope you are sitting comfortably as I have something to say and I admit, it’s a bit unusual. Firstly though, thank you so much to those I’ve already told for being so positive and supportive. When I have had moments of worrying if this was the right decision, thinking of our conversations gave me the reassurance I needed. Thank you so much to Katherine, for everything.
So what exactly am I announcing? I have changed my name … to Kate. You see, whilst I kept this mostly private, I am transgender. I have always been transgender: my earliest memory of knowing (although I obviously didn’t know the term back then) was from about three or four years old. I kept it secret until I met Katherine in 2001.
I knew very quickly Katherine was the most amazing person I’d ever met and knew I wanted to spend my life with her. So, a few months after meeting I told her my secret. Katherine continued to prove her amazingness and was not worried by this. Then in January this year she let me know she was happy with me coming out publicly.
It has been six months of thinking, planning, discussing and I’ll admit, a bit of worrying thrown in too. Oh… and some shopping… there has been shopping!! And so, at the age of 37 I am pleased to be able to say, “Hi… I’m Kate”.
From today I will be dressing full time in a more typically female style. I’ve changed my name and will shortly update my Facebook profile (but I’ll leave it a while for everyone to have seen the message before thinking “Who is this Kate Hodge on my friend list??” !!
I’ve also made a website which has some information about me if you would like to know more, as well as some more photos. The address is: http://kates.space.
I’d like to say thank you to all of you. Some of you I told in advance and was able to get support from, but those of you I haven’t yet told, you have supported me without even knowing. You have changed your profile pictures to have a rainbow pattern in support of tragic events, or you’ve liked a trans or LGBT supportive post, or you’ve just been you and shown me the world contains kind, loving people. All of this helped me decide to come out.