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TrueSelves is a forum for Generation X & Y people who are transsexual and/or transgender, who are or want to be actively transitioning in some way. For those not familiar, Generation X is the generation past the Baby Boomers. The term, taken from Billy Idol's first band, was first applied to us by Douglas Coupland in his novel of the same name. Generation Y is a term applied to the generation past X, roughly those who were born in 1980 or afterwards.

Why a forum specifically for younger people, for Generation X and Generation Y?

There are two answers to that. The first is the usual conflict between younger and older transitioners. Many younger transitioners find older transitioners threatening. And people in different stages of life tend to be very different. And that often manifests itself in conflicts between different priorities.

The second and much more important reason has to do with the differences between generations (not ages) and the unique cultural place that the Baby Boomer generation has in our culture.

Generations are different. Being part of a generation is more than simply being part of a particular age group. It has to do with a common set of experiences. Stay at home moms vs. Latchkey kids. The man in the Grey Flannel suit and a new Chevrolet every year vs. layoffs and gas lines. Father Knows Best vs All in the Family.

When I was a child, my mother was very fond of complaining about the boomers that "they thought the world revolved around them." Unfortunately, while she was right, so were they. The world does revolve around the boomer generation. They are not only the largest generation in history, but they hold a cultural hegemony that is unmatched in US history. And that overshadows the rest of us (no matter what our generation is) and it means that the voices of other generations tend to be shouted down and crowded out. And in most transgender spaces, this is exactly how younger transitioners feel. But this is as much an issue of generational differences as it is a question of age.

In practical terms what does this mean? It means that we would prefer that this forum remain focused on Generations X and Y. We ask that those who are of other generations respect our decision. But having watched early developments here and having watched a previous XY forum where boomers have taken over and begun to crowd out X/Y voices, we have decided to close the forum to older transitioners. We are taking the birth year of 1961, the furthest possible limit for the X generation as our cutoff and will be removing access for anyone we find is violating this boundary. If you do not fit in the demographic that this forum is meant to serve, I would personally recommend Beginning Life as an alternative.

For more reading on generations, I highly recommend the books 13th Gen : Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail? and Generations both by Neil Howe and William Strauss.