I don’t remember what the reaction was online, it was a long time ago. I vaguely remember it being kinda neutral, like “so?” which was a little disappointing.

Irl the reactions were:

My sister: “yeah, no shit? Me too!” (In her case, she’s enby)

My dad: “I want you to be the best “you”, and if this is who the best “you” is, then this is who you should be.”

My mom: a panic attack followed by lots of comments about how I’m like the brother she never had, how she always wanted a son, etc.

My youngest cousin (mom’s side): “I support you 🤜🤛”

Dunno about my aunt, uncle and other maternal cousin; didn’t get a chance to come out to them myself; thanks, Mom. >.>

Dunno if I’ll ever tell my paternal extended family; at least not until I manage to get on my feet. I’d probably get a mix of “hell yeah, sis” from the youngest, and “you’re going to hell” from the oldest.

The reactions from my sister and cousin were 100% expected; my sister had told me she was questioning in the past, and also mentioned that my youngest cousin was very defensive of his LGBT friends when she’d talked to him about it. However, my mom and dad were kinda the opposite of what I was expecting. I was expecting for my dad to have hang-ups since he had two older sisters and only nieces (all of whom tend to lean more conservative); while I was expecting my mom to be more supportive since her side of the family leans more liberal.

That said my mom has been coming around and I think it’s because she’s seen how much happier I am and is seeing the me that’s been hiding in my shell. Also I think she’s realized that while I’m slowly feminizing, it wasn’t gonna be an overnight thing like she was afraid of and that she has time to adjust and get used to it.

My relationship with my dad, though… has gotten kinda weird. Imagine telling your trans daughter “if this is the best you then be that you” and then later telling her that you’re still upset she started HRT without your permission (I’m fucking 30 and not living with parents by choice, I wasn’t even aware he was upset in the first place 🙄).

They still haven’t been using my preferred pronouns, buuuuuuutt… I’ve become comfortable enough that I’ve been starting to remind them; and I do think my mom kinda has a reasonable excuse because she has to talk to my grandparents every day or so. My grandparents don’t know and may never know, and she’s concerned about “giving me away” by accident. It’s not that I think my grandparents are transphobic, per se (I think they’d be confused and struggle to understand), I just don’t think I can trust them to not turn around and tell their church about how their grandson is actually their granddaughter.