How can I find the money to transition from male to female?

I am 19 and have lately been considering transitioning from male to female. I have a female figure, I dont try to work out so I'm pretty thin and even though I dont dress like a girl, about the closest to a girl I dress as is my tight skinny jeans and vneck shirts but I dont go out in heels, I dont wear make up, other than foundation, I dont wear skirts or anything out the girl section yet people continue to mistake me for a woman. I'll be out with my girl friends and some guy will hold a door open for us as we walk out and he'll say something like ';how you doing, ladies?'; or I'll go into a store with my friends and the sales associate will say ';how can i help you ladies?';. I am more confused for a girl than I am for a guy, and other than being embarrased or ashamed by it, I take it more as a compliment. I want to look pretty, I want to be a girl. I dont know how to be a proper boy, while I am a gay man, I associate more with the gay part than I do with the man part. I'm afraid to tell my parents that I have been considering converting into a woman because they can barely stand the fact that I am gay, and it is not so much the orientation that they cant handle, it is the fact that I can't just be one of those gay men that blend in with the straight men. Of course, the only reason they would like me to be more masculine is more for their selfish reasons rather than mine, because if I acted like a manly man and dressed like one, got some muscles like one, then they could easily forget about the fact that I am a gay man. But, instead, my family hates going out with me because people stare at me and point and ask to their peers ';Is that a boy or a girl?'; I can promise you that 97% of the time I go out, I am mistaken for a girl or I confuse someone about gender. It's hard, I'm in a tough position, I haven't told anyone about these feelings I have been having and I dont know what to do. I can be so much better at being a girl than I could EVER be at being a man. I have no clue what it is to be a man. I think like a girl, I feel like a girl, I even walk like one too.


I have been researching transgender and transexual people and have been consistently watching videos of transgender people account their experiences transitioning and I know what it is needed to become a woman but I just dont know how I could be able to afford all the money that goes into it.


Theirs the therapy, the hormones, the surgeries and I have no clue what to do, I wish so badly I had somebody to help me with this, to guide me through this. I'm pretty much all on my own at this point. Does insurance even cover that gender identity disorder therapy? Do they cover all the hormones that you have to take? I'm 19, like I said, and I dont want to wait any longer for this to happen. Can someone help me?How can I find the money to transition from male to female?
Ok. So I just read the beginning and I guess it all ends up as: I am young and I don't earn the kind of dough that will pay for the sex change.





Simple answer: If it's something you REALLY want, you will be willing to save up for it over time. Instant cash wont be the best thing for you in this situation. Because, changing your gender is a big thing. And if you really want, saving up for it will be worth it. And even during that time you might change your mind and think of it as something irrational (I'm not saying it is, but time changes a person)





OR You can play the lottery and pray you winHow can I find the money to transition from male to female?
So far you have to work for a pretty good company to be covered with insurance. Kaiser covers everything but SRS. But you need to get a job first and get started with your life in order to start anything at all. I started out on my own in 1985 working as a programmer and paying for my own therapy, hormones and electrolysis. It can be done, you just have to budget your money tightly.





This is a site for young people (under 35) to discuss the issue


http://www.TrueSelves.com


(all)


http://www.susans.org/





Here is a list of gender therapists to see who can help you get started in working out the issues


http://www.DrBecky.com/therapists.html





Definition


http://www.t-vox.org/index.php?title=Tra鈥?/a>


http://www.webmd.com/sex/gender-identity鈥?/a>





Here is a list of educational sites that can help you learn about the issue





On this site you can find a list of people who fit into society perfectly


http://www.LynnConway.com





Help in transitioning


http://www.TSRoadmap.com


http://transsexual.org/index.html


http://www.transgendercare.com/





A Surgeons Site


http://www.marcibowers.com/
You said: ';Theirs the therapy, the hormones, the surgeries and I have no clue what to do,';





I suggest you forget all that and start with the first step:





Seeing a gender therapist.





http://www.DrBecky.com/therapists.html





Talk to someone, that's the best advice I can give you right now.
First, you need to stop trying to convince everybody that you area girl. You tried to drilled that Idea over and over in your writing. STOP! You don鈥檛 have to say it over and over to make the point. I know that you are desperate and want answers, but transitioning is all about patience. It takes time and I mean years, not months. So learn to be patient and relax. When you rush into things you are more likely to make mistakes.





Whether you look like a man or girl is not what matters. What matters is how you feel inside and you made it very clear that you identify yourself as a female. That鈥檚 what you need to concentrate on for now.





I don鈥檛 know where you live, but there are places that can help. I live in Los Angeles and there鈥檚 a place in Hollywood, called the LA Gay and Lesbian Center, and they offer counseling and hormone treatment from transgender people. They do financial screening and they have a sliding fee scale. It鈥檚 all based on your income level. They only give you therapy for six months max, but something is better than nothing.





I know that there are other centers around the country, but I don鈥檛 know if all offer similar things. I鈥檓 sure that pretty much all of them offer some counseling of some sort. Whether is one on one counseling or support groups. Support groups are a great way to socialize with others like you and for networking.





Some insurances will cover hormones if it鈥檚 prescribed by a doctor. In fact, I鈥檓 sure that most do cover hormones but they won鈥檛 cover any sort of plastic surgery related to transitioning and that includes SRS. The problem is that without a letter from a counselor, most doctors will not put you on hormones.





I know a couple of transsexual who couldn鈥檛 find a doctor to prescribe them hormones, so they took matter into their own hands and started self medicating. Not a wise thing to do. The good thing is that they did finds doctors willing to monitor their hormones. They wouldn鈥檛 give them the hormones but they were willing to monitor them. Any real doctor will monitor your hormones. Mine did when I told her I was self medicating. She advised me to stop but they can鈥檛 stop you from taking them. So she started ordering blood tests every times I went to see her. Please, do NOT self medicate unless you know what you are doing. Even then it can be dangerous. Estrogen increases the chances of heart attacks, strokes, and other blood clotting conditions. Depression is a big issue that needs to be overseen carefully and treated if needed.





I know that you want this done yesterday, but like I said before, patience is the best virtue you can develop as a transsexual. With the right help you should be able to start hormone therapy soon. Meanwhile, you can start working on going to school or building a career. The idea is to get a job that will give you a bit extra money to save.





Once you have a steady job, that鈥檚 when the moment of truth comes. Do you have to discipline to save the money for the surgeries? Facial Feminization Surgery generally runs for a few thousand dollars. It depends how much surgery you need to look female.





After that, you may need voice training, you don鈥檛 want to just look as a female, you want your voice to sound like one too.





If you have body or facial hair, you may need to have it permanently removed. Here in LA I found a place that does the whole face for about 1200.00. Expensive but not bad. They鈥檒l do the whole leg for about 1800.00 dollars. You don鈥檛 need to have the whole leg done. Most women only grow hair bellow the knee.





There are other surgeries, procedures and training that you may want along the way, if you have the money. Such as Removing hair from other parts of the body, such as the armpits (not needed), arms, chest, back, etc. Feminization training. You get a personal trainer who teaches you how to act like female. You may think you do already, but you鈥檒l be surprised. Of course these are optional, you can learn a lot but watching and imitating women.





And of course, you have the big one, the SRS. It can cost as much as a car, or more. You are looking about twenty thousand plus here in the US and six thousand in Thailand. Once you add air fair and hotel, you are looking at about ten thousand, may be a bit more. Other parts of the world vary in price.


Since the SRS cost just has much as buying a car. Unless you make a lot of money, you won鈥檛 be able to afford a car. Open a bank account and every month deposit money in it. Imagine that you were paying for a car. So if you buy a car that costs 20,000 dollars and you want to pay it off in four years, you are looking at payments of about 416.00 dollars per month to your account. Sounds expensive but it鈥檚 cheaper than buying a real car. You don鈥檛 need to pay for insurance, gas and maintenance. Meanwhile you鈥檒l have to use public transportation or get the cheapest car you can find. Even then, money that you鈥檒l be using for gas and insurance could be paying for other procedures. Such as hormones, laser hair removal, clothing, or other stuff.





You also need to understand that NOT every transgender that takes hormones and wants to live as a female want a SRS. Some are happy looking and passing as a woman but having a penis and testicles. Some decide to keep the penis but get rid of their balls. Getting rid of your balls has its benefits. You don鈥檛 need to take ant androgenic drugs (drugs that lower testosterone levels in the blood), and you can take lower doses of estrogen. Making it cheaper and reducing health risk factors. Such has liver damage. But if you plan to have a SRS, you may want to hold on to your boys. You may feel that you want a SRS right now, but may be down the road you鈥檒l change. So relax, take things one day at a time.





Something else, stop referring to yourself as a gay man. You are not a gay man, You are a straight female. If your sexual identity (I鈥檓 not talking about gender identity) is female, and you like men, then you are a straight female.





It鈥檚 like me, I was born male but I鈥檓 a M2F transsexual, which makes me a lesbian. I know it sounds funny. I had never thought about it until I went to therapy and a couple of counselors in two different occasions told me that. It does sound funny but it鈥檚 true.





You have a lot to learn, just take it easy and think about what you are doing before you do. Don鈥檛 let your emotions drive you crazy and push you into a compulsive behavior. It could cost you a lot more money, headaches, and tears.





I may sound like I know what I鈥檓 talking about, but I鈥檓 just starting the process too. Other than the fact that I self medicated for about a year, I鈥檓 just starting to take my first baby steps. There鈥檚 a lot of questions that I have and a lot of the ideas I gave you above are some of my own ideas. Something that I鈥檓 learning really quick is to be patient. You sound very inpatient and you are only 19, I鈥檓 40, imagine how I feel.