Can a trans man find happiness in Labrador? I'm about to find out

This is a First Person column by Mason Woodward, who returned to his home in Happy Valley-Goose Bay after his transition. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.

I was born and raised in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L., a place known for harsh winters and even harsher mosquitoes. But what it isn't known for is its sexual and gender diversity.

I am a trans man, which means I was assigned female at birth, though the arbitrary gender marker didn't reflect my true gender. Ever since I was young — even as young as eight years old — I knew something was different about me.

All children love to play and make believe, imagining themselves in all sorts of different roles and situations. 

But what I noticed, even that young, was that playing traditional "female" roles just didn't cut it for me. No matter what, I played "male" roles and felt much more comfortable doing so.

As I began questioning exactly why this was while going through puberty, I was left with many more questions and no answers. This was in the 1990s when the internet was still in its early stages. It wasn't as user friendly and didn't have the seemingly limitless access to resources like it does today. No one really talked about 2SLGBTQIA+ issues — an acronym that includes people who are two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, and more — and it certainly wasn't talked about in my schools in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. 

I had no idea where to go to figure out what I was feeling. I didn't even have the language to figure out where to start.