Sarah Musick spent the first 18 years of her life as the dutiful, overachieving daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor in small-town Virginia. Then she went to college and fell in love-with another woman. After graduating, she spent six intensive months at Colorado's Focus on the Family Institute , trying to pray away her "dirty thoughts" about women. It didn't work. Four years later, guilt and shame led her to try to hang herself, then swallow handfuls of pills washed down with tequila.

Following much soul-searching, today Sarah is Silas—proudly and publicly chronicling his transition from female to male. An activist against conversion therapy for people under 18, the happily married father of two has dedicated himself to personal truth and authenticity, inspiring others to own their journey by remaining radically open about his.

In Musick's words...
"After my suicide attempt I started blogging—really raw, honest, hard stuff about religion, my sexuality, and the fallout with my parents over how different I was from the person they expected me to be. Some of my friends said, 'This is not appropriate.' And yeah, I could have kept quiet, but what would I have gained? Every time I share honestly and vulnerably, almost without fail someone else reaches out with their own story. And for everyone I do hear from, how many more are out there that I don't? That's worth the pushback. Having to be so secretive in college for two years while I was in a relationship was one of the hardest, darkest stretches because everything I experienced, I hid. And maybe I've overcorrected and am now just this gushing spillover—I do overshare as a general practice. But feeling so not authentic for so long took the meaning and purpose out of life. Educating people is so important-like even, What the hell is happening to my body as I transition? I'm happy to answer questions. I'm definitely willing to be the story. Being trans is becoming more and more public, and in most cases I don't feel tokenized. This is likely just a phase of a society catching up to an idea. It won't be my job to carry this banner my entire life."

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