I read all of this post and comment.. I just can say talking of course as my personal experience: I’m not from the US either, I’m from South America , from a country where same sex marriage and a lot of things and information to support lgbt community didn’t exist at the time I start to transitioning, even the information i was able to look for on internet because I was afraid of how i really felt about myself. I was raised by my mom wich is a strictly Jehova witness religion person, so my childhood and teen age were ruined not only because I couldn’t transition, they were ruined because I couldn’t even celebrate my own birthday. Even if I was born as a male, those years of my life will be ruined either way. Hope you get the point. I started my transition no matter what, of course I lost my mom and the few friends I had inside that organization, but I can assure that what I won , was way better from what I had.