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Today 2:58 pm  #1


my husband came out as trans after 20 years of marriage

We've been together since high school, married and twenty and share 5 kids together. Our oldest two are young adults in college. We still have three at home.

Four years ago, during an intimate exchange where I saw that he had worn my panties all day and asked him about it he confessed to cross dressing our entire marriage. We put it back in the closet. This came as a complete shock to me, as he was someone who I viewed as very masculine and had always worked a blue collar union job.

After we moved an hour a way the next year, he started making phyiscal changes like, growing his hair, shaving his legs, wearing bikini mens underwear.

We started therapy earlier this year individually and as couple, even though we know divorce is imminent.
I'm struggling at this point because he's wearing his hair long, shaving his entire body, including his beard, wearing mostly womens pants, jeans, shirts. He started using all pronouns in social setttings. Refuses to acknowlege the changes and take accountability for his actions. 

I want him out of my house. I guess Im just looking for support that I'm not in the wrong here. I think after 28 years I deserve to have some knowledge of his plans, especially for the sake of our children. I feel like he wants to be treated with kid gloves, and he doesn't want to face the facts.

 

Today 5:06 pm  #2


Re: my husband came out as trans after 20 years of marriage

Everything you describe there, especially the sentence at the end -  "I feel like he wants to be treated with kid gloves, and he doesn't want to face the facts." - that is who he is, that is how he is, and it can escalate into feeling upset pretty fast if you ignore the signs.  This is who he is.

Nothing about this is fair on you, it is the situation you are in, and you sound like you are coping very well indeed, good for you.   This is the hardest part, separating, and if he is amenable to moving out sooner rather than later, then I think that would ease things for you all and if he doesn't want to then my suggestion would be to make a space that is just yours in the house and set yourself up there.

 

Last edited by lily (Today 5:09 pm)

 

Today 6:23 pm  #3


Re: my husband came out as trans after 20 years of marriage

I am not coping well, I am a mess. 

I have work to focus on which is a good distraction, but inside i feel broken. All the years wasted on a partner that was never fully in it with me. He has never been able to meet my emotional needs. We have had communication issues from the start. He shuts down, deflects, walks away any time the conversation arises. Now I see how much of a narcissist he really is. He expects the family to just bend to his transformation like its nothing, and I feel like he died. He says to me, "I am not the one who's leaving". He wants everything to stay the same. 

All the years I spent being pregnant, and staying home and raising kids. I feel like I wasted so much time. All of my good years are gone. 

To be able to conceal this from your spouse for close to three decades is crazy to me. He has made me question my entire adult existence. My sexuality, my sanity. And he always acts like I'm the one overreacting. And I know he'll pit my kids against me. 

It's terrible. 

     •Thread Starter
 

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