my advice to you is to never waste your time trying to fit into a club or hobby or any community who makes you beg for acceptance and approval just to participate when you could do the alternative—get involved in a niche and endangered hobby run primarily by old people.
i wanted to learn how to hunt ruffed grouse and train bird dogs so i sent an email to my local chapter of the ruffed grouse society explaining that getting into wildlife groups is intimidating to me because I’m trans
and all they saw was that someone under 60 wanted to learn to hunt grouse & several months into my mentorship I was told that like 7 old guys argued over me until they had to pick a number between 1 and 100 to decide who got to personally mentor me.
imagine vying for the acceptance of some gatekeeping weirdos when your mere interest could be inciting verbal combat among retirees
my mentor was so sweet & funny too. he suggested we meet over lunch first so he could tell me about what to expect before we got started & I emailed back “I’m ready to get started right away!”
and he said “I was actually suggesting lunch first for your comfort on the assumption you wouldn’t want to get together with a man you’ve never met, in the woods with a gun.”
Like, I trusted him because of the referrals I got from one of my professors but like, right you are sir fair enough. Lunch it is.
