In Defense of the Awkward Phase

Being a clueless, dorky baby queer was the only way for me to come out at all.

Behold, the decorations at my Adult Gender Reveal. Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash

Every photo that I’ve taken of myself in the past two years makes me cringe. I cannot stop taking them. I’m nearly two years into my transition, just reaching the end (middle? Late middle? Don’t say beginning) of my awkward baby queer years, and it’s become a ritual: Monitoring…