Lys Mor ton
SPEAKER: The trauma of hands hauling me into the boy’s bathroom of my high school, pinning me to the floor, stripping me of more than clothes is the thought that dominates when I ask myself if I'm "one of the boys." AGENDER (ADJECTIVE): A person who does not have a specific gender identity.
SPEAKER: The term I choke out one night when a little boy asks me if I am a boy or a girl. Lying one more time had become too much. “I’m not a boy or a girl.” FREAK (NOUN): Any abnormal phenomenon or product or unusual object.
SPEAKER: The word my father uses the night I come out to him. “You’re going to spend the rest of your life looking like something with tits and a beard.” DYSPHORIA (NOUN): A state of dissatisfaction, anxiety, restlessness, or fidgeting.
SPEAKER: The ever-present shadow that cloaks depression, anxiety, sensory issues, teenage angst. “I never had a name for it, so I couldn’t distinguish it from the struggles I knew.” TESTOSTERONE (NOUN): A hormone that stimulates the development of male secondary sexual traits.
SPEAKER: A weekly injection that brings on a second puberty I didn’t realize I desperately wanted. “Hi, my name is Lys and this is my voice after two months on t.” FEMALE-TO-MALE (VERB): Assigned female at birth then transitioned to male.
SPEAKER: The easy way to explain my transition during mix-ups. It feels odd because I don't remember a time when I was “female.” ACCEPTANCE (NOUN):
The act of assenting or believing.
SPEAKER: The slow process of understanding the man I’m becoming, understanding all the ways my past shaped me, learning to be better than the men before me, “starting with the man in the mirror.” TRANSGENDER (ADJECTIVE): A person whose gender identity does not correspond to the biological sex assigned at birth.
SPEAKER: The word that gave me a future. “Dear eight-year-old me, you won’t hate yourself forever.” A male child or person.
SON (NOUN):
SPEAKER: The option my mom selects on Facebook after searching everywhere for how to change it from daughter. We both end up crying on the couch, tears of relief finally replacing tears of grief. ( ) Script
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