Dear Parents and Families,
I wanted to take this moment to share something with you about myself.
A lot of you may of noticed in the last 6 months that there has been some noticeable changes in my appearance. Different clothes, longer hair and the occasional appearance of make up on me. I would like to address this with you now and try to answer any questions or doubts you may have about me. For many years since I was a child, I have had a condition called gender dysphoria. Put simply, I identify as a female not a male. Due to certain situations in my life I havn’t been able to disclose this information in the past mostly out of respect for the people around me and more out of fear for the reaction I may get as a result of doing so.
Last year, some of you may of know that my marriage of almost 20 years broke down and as a result I’m not constricted to hide in the shadows anymore. I have the opportunity to live my life as how I believe I should of for all those years and as part of that, I wanted to include you, the families of Xxxxxxx in what is about to take place.
Over the next few months or so I will be undertaking different measures to begin my transition including HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). This is not by any means a quick fix and will take time assuming I get approval to begin this treatment in the first place. Once treatment begins you may notice some more obvious changes as time progresses including me leaving the centre as Darren and coming back as Sharon, and dressing as a female member of staff. Rest assured my level of care towards your children will never change as a result.
The truth is, your children are the ones that have given me the strength to make changes in my life so I can be a better educator. I love my job very much and consider it an honour and a privilege to do what I do everyday and that will never change. Backed by our amazing team at Xxxxxxx I discovered strength I didn’t even know that I possessed to be able to make this dream a reality.
The simple fact is that we the educators, children and families are a part of a community at Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx. A pretty strong community and one that i’m very proud to be part of. With that in mind, I offer full disclosure to anyone who has any questions they may want to ask me. I’m only to happy to address any questions or concerns you may have as I know this is a huge step. Xxxxxx has suggested that if there is enough questions that we maybe able to do an information night to discuss my journey with you.
I know at the end of the day their maybe some who will have their reservations about this and I get that. For years I asked the question, why me? The truth is, why not. This world is full of people from different walks of life and that is what makes us an amazing country full of many different cultures and diversities. In our centre alone we have families and educators who attend from all round the globe, so having a transgender educator is only going to enrich our community even more.
I’m going to finish this up now but I wanted it also to be known, that I am Christian and have a very strong faith in God. I read my bible and try and practise living a Christian life where I can. I have had it said to me before from a very good friend of mine “I don’t believe God makes mistakes.” The truth is I don’t either, God sends us tests to test our faith at times and through all of this, the years of living a life that wasn’t my own and the years of depression that went with it….My faith in God remains strong.
Thank you for taking the time to read this today and if you have any questions what so ever. please feel free to ask me as nothing is off limits. I truly won’t be offended.
Darren (Sharon) Priestley.
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