If it was my child who came out of the closet as transgender, how would I react?
First, I’d probably be really surprised. I’d probably cry. Not out of fear or anger or anything like that…I’d probably cry because I’d want my child to be able to have any easy life. And I’d feel so guilty that my child had probably been so depressed and miserable and feeling alone for so long. My DH would probably have a hard time adjusting. But at the end of the day, I don’t care what gender my kids are. They’re my kids. I love them to the moon and back regardless of what they call themselves or what clothes they wear.
You are going to need a support network. A soft place to land when you need morale support. Transgendered individuals often have problems with various types of addiction because they tend to self-medicate in order to try to push away the intense depression and loneliness. If you have found yourself leaning in that direction, then you need to get connected into your local LGBTQ community in a big way. You need to find people who you feel accepted by, people who you can be yourself with, people who will not judge you.
This will also require you to probably reduce contact with your parents for awhile. You’ll have to reduce contact with a lot of judgmental people. If you’re newly out of college and are looking for a new job, then that is a good opportunity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.
You are going to encounter a lot of angry and judgmental people as you come out of the closet. But you know what? You are also going to encounter a lot of people who don’t care 1 way or another what gender you are.