The Transgender Journey: Jessica Lynn

Sharing an experience can have either a positive or negative feedback. I have heard so many different people talking about their situations, but few really take the time to listen to what others have to say. Including myself in that list, I was never very willing to put myself in other people’s shoes. That changed when I started growing up and looking at the world from a different perspective. When I talk about sharing an experience and having a negative response from us sharing them, is that sometimes our experiences and opinions can be subject of negative critics. People sometimes are not willing to listen and they are bias of others because of race, color, language, religion, culture and any other category which divides human population.

Jessica Lynn, a transgender woman, she is an activist and public speaker on the issues of transgender rights. She came to Mississippi State University and spoke during the celebration of National Coming out Day. Jessica Lynn is also the president of Your True Gender, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the community on Trans* Issues. Activist, loving parent, public speaker, and transgender woman, Jessica Lynn, (formally known as Jeff Butterworth) knew from the age of 4 that her male birth assignment was not in alignment with her true gender. Today, having lost all parental rights due to gender discrimination, Jessica is bravely speaking out and has dedicated her life to help others through her own gender

I knew very little about Trans* rights and Trans* Issues. Listen to this women changed my whole perspective on the topic. The tone in her voice every time she would mention her kids. The look in her eyes when she explained all the issues she had the go through. The expressions in her face when she mention every single detail of how she is harassed and treated by others because of her beliefs. A million things came to my mind after every single word she said. I couldn’t believe how people treated her, regardless of her beliefs and sexual orientation. That is just not a way of treating a human being. I learned so much out of this experience. Having come to this program helped me clear my ground and my past in order to move on into a new way of thinking. What I thought to be wrong was not anymore because I realized there was more to it than just opinions, they are lives involved. I always try to not pick sides, but I realized that standing to a side and not doing anything about social issues is also a way of supporting them. Now I know that not doing anything is also wrong, I realized that I have to stand and man up to anything I believe to be