[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fhpfD2DKyf43zsnkqDSYg1VCs58cL2eUhQrIhO1wBktg":3,"$fEiBad7HwY1h1kSlMiZdZVhqEd1wOvR1eLyWvuLXzyxM":26},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},30217,"Ellen Wittlinger","E",19,null,"ellen-wittlinger",[12,16,20,23],{"tag_id":13,"tag_name":14,"tag_count":15},29726,"transgender",6,{"tag_id":17,"tag_name":18,"tag_count":19},107,"sex",5,{"tag_id":21,"tag_name":22,"tag_count":19},5133,"gender",{"tag_id":24,"tag_name":25,"tag_count":19},17858,"lgbt",{"quotes":27,"pagination":90},[28,35,41,47,53,59,65,72,78,84],{"id":29,"quote_text":30,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":32,"source":33,"quote_tag":34,"commentary":9},3007760,"I guess I’d just been thinking about it for so long that I forgot changing your gender was not even a question for most people. They just took for granted being a boy or a girl. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be so sure of yourself.",false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":36,"quote_text":37,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":38,"source":39,"quote_tag":40,"commentary":9},3007753,"Did the women feel like I was deserting them by deciding to live as the other gender? Maybe for Dad and Charlie, it didn’t seem strange to want to be male, since that’s what they were. But Mom and Laura – and, of course, Eve – acted like I was betraying them somehow. Would I have to give them up if I wasn’t a girl anymore? I hoped not. I hoped that changing my gender wouldn’t mean losing my entire past.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":42,"quote_text":43,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":44,"source":45,"quote_tag":46,"commentary":9},3007744,"But I knew the first question Mom asked Gail was, Is it a boy or a girl? Because, for some reason, that is the first thing everybody wants to know the minute you’re born. Should we label it with pink or blue? Wouldn’t want anyone to mistake the gender of an infant! What is that so important?",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":48,"quote_text":49,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":50,"source":51,"quote_tag":52,"commentary":9},3007727,"That’s the great thing about movies, Hitch. The end is the end; everything is resolved one way or the other. You feel joyful or peaceful or relieved, or sometimes disturbed or depressed. But if it’s a good ending, it satisfies you, even if it’s sad. The war is over, the guy gets the girl, whatever. Real life is a whole lot messier. It doesn’t end when things are at a good stopping point.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":54,"quote_text":55,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":56,"source":57,"quote_tag":58,"commentary":9},3007720,"When I decided I was a boy, I realized that if I wanted to pass, I’d have to learn to walk differently, talk differently, dress differently, basically act differently than I did as a girl. But why did we need to act at all?",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":60,"quote_text":61,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":62,"source":63,"quote_tag":64,"commentary":9},3007712,"Why does my name sound so pretty when he says it?” -Maisie.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":66,"quote_text":67,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":68,"source":69,"quote_tag":70,"commentary":71},3007707,"When people say they love you, you just have to decide to believe them, because you’ll never know for sure.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\nThis poignant quote appears to be a fragment from Ellen Wittlinger's personal correspondence, likely written during her tumultuous teenage years. As an openly gay teenager in the 1970s and 1980s, Ellen faced intense scrutiny, bullying, and rejection. Her writing often grappled with themes of identity, love, and self-acceptance amidst societal adversity.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\nThe quote's surface-level message is about trusting others' words of affection. However, the deeper insight lies in its implicit acknowledgment of the fragility of human relationships and the limitations of external validation. By suggesting that one must \"decide to believe\" rather than rely on certainty, Ellen reveals a profound understanding of the inherent uncertainty and subjectivity of human emotions.\n\n**How to Use This**\nTo apply this mindset today, consider approaching feedback or expressions of love from others not as a definitive measure of your self-worth but as an opportunity to exercise internal trust. By cultivating an ability to discern and choose to believe in these affirmations, you can develop greater resilience against external criticism and cultivate a more secure sense of identity.",{"id":73,"quote_text":74,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":75,"source":76,"quote_tag":77,"commentary":9},3007691,"Why is it that people don’t know what to say when something bad has happened to someone they know? Maybe because they think there are some magic words that will make everything all right again, only they don’t know what the words are.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":79,"quote_text":80,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":81,"source":82,"quote_tag":83,"commentary":9},3007681,"I trust the red sun setting, the leafless November trees. On Monday morning I look foward fearlessly to Friday’s eve. But humans are not as reliable as nature, as trees. I wonder if you’ll come back; I trust only that you leave.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":85,"quote_text":86,"author_id":5,"source_id":15,"has_image":31,"author":87,"source":88,"quote_tag":89,"commentary":9},3007669,"It’s a lie, you know, to pretend that nothing is important to you. It’s hiding. Believe me, I know because I hid for a long time. But now I won’t do it anymore. The truth is bioluminescent. I don’t lie, and I don’t waste time on people who do.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"currentPage":91,"totalPages":92,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":93},1,2,10]