Gender Identity

Unless you have struggled with Gender Identity, it is difficult to understand. For that reason gender non-conforming and transgendered individuals often feel alone, sometimes even within the LGBTQ+ community. The struggle to understand oneself, share the confusion with others, and find the expression and experience of the true self is a natural challenge. If you are feeling confused or just want to explore the concepts of masculine and feminine and how they manifest in your world and in your body, you have come to the right place. We offer a supportive space for you to begin to find out who you are. AAIT offers the opportunity to integrate opposing ideas such as male and female, conflict between who you are on the inside vs. the outside, and to explore society’s structures and expectations that create this dissonance. You will find your path, the one that is yours alone, the one where you can stand in your truth without guilt or shame. “We cannot change others. We cannot change circumstances. We CAN change our state and our experience. “ (Bob and Mary Goulding, authors of Self Acceptance Training and contributors to this work) Friends and family do not have to agree or accept you for you to experience freedom and self-love. Come and let’s talk about what that looks like and how you can find peace. When I first began my journey to discover myself (very late in life-it’s never too late), I wrote the following poem. Perhaps it will speak to you.

The Other Person

I have this other person. He’s deep inside of me.
He’s been since the beginning. A natural part of me.
Sometimes he rules my body and makes me who he is.
Controls my thoughts and feelings. As if they were only his.
He works with what he’s given, but sometimes dreams of more.
He knows what things could feel like but rarely gets a score.
He’s different from the outside, the hidden other glance.
He operates within her, and really doesn’t fuss.
He loves her too you see, because it was meant to be.
The design from the beginning was not prepared by me.
Society set the stage and tells us what to be.
She shows the world the outside. And used to try to hide.
But then she sought to honor the gentleman inside.
Giving him free rein to show himself as true, she enters the new journey to integrate the two.
So how does someone love them? How do they realize?
The woman on the outside is much a man inside.
How do they love together? What happens when they cry?
He is tough as nails. Determined and true.
She comes with sensitivity and deep emotion through.
They’re quite the pair together. Fight as they sometimes do.
In the end they’re the total package, flexible and complete.

Resources for the LGBTQIA+ Community