Besides the marked poverty, much of what you wrote in your fiction story could apply to me. I had enough to eat growing up, even though we were not at all well off, at least not after my dad quit his well paying union job to become an impoverished Baptist youth pastor.

What hits the nail on the head is the sense of alienation, of being different, too different, even before I realized why — before I started to struggle to "act like a boy" instead of playing with the girls and liking "girly" things.

I've spent much of my life hoping and working for a better, healthier world for people who are different in similar ways to how I am different. It's kind of, well, agonizing to see Donald Trump rise to bullying power thanks to the sorts of people who bullied me as a child.

The cruelty is over the top.

But I take hope from you and countless people like you who will not just sit back and accept it.

Thank you.