Married to a Former Transgender

Following is a response Charlene Leach gave to a man who fervently opposes work to help a person overcome their transgender desires. Charlene is married to a former transgender:

Dear K____,

But I will tell you assuredly, that as a wife who once lived with a man who thought that way and who believed he was a woman trapped in a man's body and who at one time went on hormones, etc., I want you to know that it is an agonizing experience for a wife. Not only have I once lived it, but over the last 10 years I have spoken with many wives (and continue to each week) who are in the midst of it right now. Their husbands want them to accept it. Their husbands want to wear the negligees to bed with their wives. They want their wives to, in essence, turn into lesbians. And these women are heterosexual, but their husbands try to force this on them. Their husbands want to dress that way in front of their children, so they would have two mommas instead of a momma and a daddy.

These men are totally self-absorbed. They do not consider the damage this is doing to their children or their wives.

I now live with a man (the same man I spoke of earlier) who is now at home in his masculinity, who treats me with respect and dignity. He is a caring and compassionate man, a wonderful husband and a great grandfather to his nine grandchildren … because I have seen first hand the changes that occurred in him over the years as he untangled and dealt with the root causes for his gender-identity confusion, as he read books, sought counsel, received inner healing prayer, etc., and did the hard work of recovery…. because I know for a truth that there is hope for men who are in the same boat he once was in ….because I know that there is hope for these men and their wives and children and grandchildren, I want to shout it from the housetops… "There's FREEDOM! Real, lasting Freedom from the agonizing, self-destructive, self-defeating life that comes with transsexualism and the damaging effects it has on families."

I  know you do not understand what it is like to be the wife of a transsexual. But I do. And my passion is to touch the lives of wives, as Jerry [my husband] touches the lives of men, and come alongside them, and walk with them into the freedom we have found.

Blessings!

Charlene