Growing up i was always known as the ‘feminine boy’ who stood out to most boys and never fit into their category of ‘boys’.
I was always with my girlies, as that’s where i found my comfort and happiness.
Throughout my secondary school experience, the years Year 7-9 was my hardest years. I went through extreme bullying due to me being gay. Which then lead me to having severe depression, not wanting to leave the house/ go to school.
The bullying had took over me to the point i was scared to speak to anybody about it so i started social media as i called it my little “get away”.
When i started doing social media, it was all just for fun and a joke, but it took a big turn and ended being my full time hobby.
Until it made my bullying worse. I started TikTok for fun on May 30th 2020. Just before the 6 weeks holiday (summer).
I went back to school 3rd of september 2020 with a following of over 600,000 people following me due to my entertaining content. But it took a negative turn when i got back to school, i would have my account being banned left right and centre, i would get it back, it would get banned again, this was due to my bully’s reporting me for no reason when in reality, i was finally doing good, they was jealous of my easy success and tried to take it all away from me.
I gained a mass of over 1,900,000 followers until sadly the day came, i lost my account and never got it back.
This then lead me to quitting social media for a solid year.
I was heading to year 10 and it was the 6 weeks holiday, a year had passed.
I was expecting Gender Dysphoria. At first i was sure it was just a phase as i was early on puberty as i was only 15 at this time. I told my parents and they also said they thought it was a phase, so i ignored it.
But it didn’t go away, i would be waking up every morning, looking in the mirror and seeing a different version of myself, a negative version of myself, something i didn’t want neither liked. I wanted to be a girl. It wasn’t something i “chose” or “wanted” it was how i felt, i begged for the feeling to go away, but it didn’t it just got worse.
I told my family & friends how i felt and they all supported me on the beginning of my trans gender journey.
Honestly, in the world we live in now, i was scared, extremely scared, but i did it. i came out as trans gender. I switched my pronouns to She/Her and changed my name to Skyler Rose Firth.
My family and friends was easy to pick up on that which i feel extremely gifted and grateful for that.
I then went back to school, my first year going back as a trans girl, my hair was a little grown out, i had full girl uniform, i was petrified but ready for it.
It didn’t go as bad as i expected it would, i would have the odd boy maybe whisper or say something, but surprisingly the bullying had died down, and i was genuinely supported by all my teachers and friends. I felt so happy.
It was leading up to 2023.
This is when i jumped back onto social media. My content overall was my trans gender journey. Leading day 1 of being a girl to day 365 of being a girl.
This lasted up to May 2024 until i stopped the jokes and took social media extremely seriously.
Im now 18. I started social media FULL time last year in may. It’s been 11 months and i’ve gained almost 400,000 followers for my content, i do Get Ready With Me’s, Comedy, Hauls, and much more.
Many people say social media has ruined this generation but for me, it saved me, waking up every morning to hundreds or thousands of messages and comments giving nothing but support really wakes me up and puts a smile on my face.
Social media changed my life.
With all the LGBT+ hate there is at the moment, if there is any closeted LGBT+ individuals reading this, i promise it gets better. It does get easy, And you will find your happiness. It takes time but it happens.
Thank you for listening to my story.