SAN DIEGO — We're celebrating Pride this week as celebrations are underway, culminating this Saturday in Hillcrest with the Pride Parade and start of the Pride Festival.
Fin shares his story as he and hundreds of transgender youth prepare to lead this year's parade.
Fin, 18, says he decided to transition when he met a trans person for the first time.
"I think I was about 14 or 15 years old when I met my first trans person in person. And I was like 'holy crap that is something I can actually be. That's someone I can be. That's something I can do.' I have an older brother and I used to always want to hang out with him and his friends. I was always like treated differently because I was a little girl in this group of boys. But it never made sense to me, because I was like 'what's up guys. I'm one of the boys. What’s doing on here. Where is this weird energy from?' And so there was definitely a lot of confusion in my childhood," said Fin.
His transition journey started two years ago. He underwent top surgery and continues to take weekly testosterone injections.
"It took me a while to pick a name. I chose Fin with one 'n' because I'm a scuba diver and I'm a huge fan of sharks and so it was kind of after shark fin. You know what, I am trans. This is who I am. This is what's going on. I think the realization was the hard part and everything after that has been exciting. 'Oh my gosh, I get to take my testosterone shot today. I have top surgery coming up in a month.' I like to focus more on the euphoria and the joy that comes out of it," said Fin.
"I went from being this shy kid who would look down on the ground when saying hello to you to speaking at conferences about being trans," said Fin.
He says his parents have been supportive and so has his girlfriend, Jay.
"When I met him, he was identifying as a lesbian. Then, throughout the rest of our getting to know each other, I saw him start to transition and it was cool to see him find himself," said Jay.
Fin along with 200 other trans youth will be leading this year’s San Diego Pride Parade where he hopes to spread a message of acceptance.
"I hope for more people have more information. Because I think if people actually took the time to understand, they would be like 'oh this isn't a big thing.' We are not dangerous to kids. We are allowed to be in schools. It's so demonized in the media when we really are just people existing. We are just out here being people," said Fin.
Watch Related: San Diego Pride events expected to bring in millions to region (Jul 8, 2022)