Recently I asked a number of transgender and cisgender friends the following: If a transgender person does something that may reflect badly on the trans community, is their personal freedom of expression more important than expectations to conform?

I know there are plenty of people who, looking back at their younger selves, have had occasion to think, "Man, what you don't know could fill a book." However, I'm unique in that the book filled with the things I don't know is an actual book.

I'd gone to mixed martial arts training and boxed with cisgender guys, and no one had had any clue that I'd been designated as "female" at birth. I don't hide the fact that I'm transgender; I just don't see any reason to bring up my trans status with that group. Allow me to explain.

"What exactly does it mean to be transgender? Why do they want to change their sex? Why can't they just be gay or lesbian?" These are some of the questions I so ignorantly used to think about transgender people. But I am a firm believer that ignorance must always be replaced by education.