“The born-this-way narrative, at its worst, can be used to invalidate transgender existence by claiming that the way we are at birth constitutes the way we will always be. At its best, the assumption that children come to know their gender at an early age—and may only be able to articulate it later—allows for but limits transgender identity to a narrow acceptable framework. Those of us who did not identify as transgender from a young age are seen as suspect and questioned or even outright invalidated. Some will say we haven't done the work to connect our identity to our backgrounds, that we must've missed the signs of our true 'identity.' We were actually transgender all along.”