June 1, 2021 by Ally Donnelly
Finn Congdon spent too much of his childhood in pain. Like any kid, he was trying to figure out who he was. But he had a bigger challenge than his Hingham peers. He was born into a body that didn’t fit. "I think it started to become clear to me when I was 9 or 10 years old," he says. "When I started having a real mismatch between what the outside world wanted me to be and who I actually felt that I was."
Finn was born into a girl’s body. At first, he assumed he was a tomboy, but over the years the wound of uncertainty and confusion grew deeper. He wore baggier and baggier clothes and avoided touching his body at all costs. "I was basically this shell of a person," he says. "Trying so hard to hide from everybody."
Finn‘s journey is aching and beautiful. He is one of the lucky ones. Lucky to have loving and supportive friends and family. Lucky to have met others in the LGBTQ+ community to help him understand what he had spent nearly his entire childhood questioning. Lucky to have found his authentic self.
For far too many others, the darkness doesn’t lift. In a recent survey of LGBTQ youth, more than half of the transgender and non-binary kids had serious suicidal thoughts in 2020.
More than half. As we mark the beginning of Pride, Finn and his mom Moira, share their journey to not only help kids who might be struggling with their identity, but to help the community understand one transgender person's experience and how they can be an ally. It is a gift.
Finn‘s journey is aching and beautiful. He is one of the lucky ones. Lucky to have loving and supportive friends and family. Lucky to have met others in the LGBTQ+ community to help him understand what he had spent nearly his entire childhood questioning. Lucky to have found his authentic self.
For far too many others, the darkness doesn’t lift. In a recent survey of LGBTQ youth, more than half of the transgender and non-binary kids had serious suicidal thoughts in 2020.
More than half. As we mark the beginning of Pride, Finn shares his journey to help not only kids who might be struggling, but to help the community understand some of what they might be going through. It’s a gift.
