'My Husband Is Now My Wife': Couple Speak On Marriage After Transition
transgender, at 47 years old.As Kevin, Allyssa, married her wife Andrea in June 1996, and together they've had three children and a 26-year loving marriage.At the time they got married, Allyssa says, there wasn't a term for transgender, or gender dysphoria yet, so she just thought she liked being feminine.
She said: "I told my wife that for some reason feminine things were very important to me and I enjoyed wearing girls' things.
I didn't tell her I was transgender because it wasn't a word back then."Even though transgender people have existed throughout history, historians have only traced the earliest use of the term to a 1965 psychology textbook, according to research by National Geographic.The ex-sales director and her wife, Andrea, had only dated for about six months before getting married, and telling her about how she really felt inside was just "a small part of the new information [they] were learning about each other", said Allyssa, adding that it was only discussed as a private practice with no thought of transitioning since the concept was still foreign to them.She added: "I was excited to share with my partner that I better understood her 'girl' world more than a lot of boys did.
It always felt like a superpower that I was blessed with."Unlike what many wives would think, Andrea was very supportive of her partner after coming out as trans, and made it easier for her to be able to express herself. "Andrea was very respectful and sensitive of my feelings and would buy me things that she felt I would enjoy experiencing," said Allyssa.According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, there are no reliable statistics on what happens to marriages after a spouse comes out as transgender.
