Boy, (Un)Interrupted, Transpinoy Rising!

On November 23, 1978 another human being was born in Makati City, Philippines. A quick glance at the baby’s genitals prompted the doctor to declare the baby female. Consequently, the baby was registered “female” on “her” birth certificate, was given a feminine name, and was raised and socialized to be a girl by “her” parents and the rest of society. However, there’s something this human being intimately knows that’s unknown to the doctor, “her” parents, and the rest of society. Something unknown even to the genitals this human being was born with. It’s something that the heart, brain, and consciousness feel and understand. It’s a feeling that doesn’t have the ephemeral quality of a physical sensation or of an emotion. It’s an innate understanding - it cannot be learned or unlearned. And this feeling and understanding are like a living truth that cannot be destroyed even by the most deadening stubborn dogma. “I am not female but male,” the grown-up baby who preferred to be called James Roque affirmed, “And I will definitely NOT survive living in the wrong body and being called the wrong pronouns for the rest of my life.”

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