Most likely they will yawn, think, "O, yes, I knew something was up!" and get on with their lives.
 

The short but accurate answer is that it isn't for neighbours or anyone else to veto what conditions and diseases people suffer and are treated for. Having their own problems to worry about, neighbours do not generally care what happens behind closed doors. Ironically, sometimes the person making the big deal of the situation is the person wondering what the neighbours will think. Nobody would dream of worrying about their neighbours' opinions about the treatment of any other kind of medical condition: why this one, so uniquely?
 

The problem is not infrequently more in the mind of the person having this fear, rather than in the neighbours. A common and all too easy mistake is to assume others will be prejudiced, without giving them a chance to demonstrate otherwise. Prejudging people in this way is itself a form of inadvertent bigotry. Usually (but not always) these worries prove to be unfounded.
 

Given the opportunity, neighbours can be sympathetic and supportive, but only if someone tells them what they are supposed to be understanding. It is always best for explanations to come from the person with the condition because explanations from third parties are too often embellished with their own ideas which may be completely false.
 

Neighbours are least likely to be supportive when they are left in the dark. This gives them little choice but to jump to wrong conclusions or listen to gossip from other people who typically get the telling wrong. To understand the neighbour's perspective it is helpful to consider: would you support someone who didn't trust you enough to confide in you?
 

Neighbours are most likely to be supportive when they are given a brief, accurate explanation of the situation by the person with the condition. If they slam the door in one's face, they would have done that sooner or later anyway.
 
 

Mistakes to avoid are:
 
 

1. Overkill. It is far better to keep explanations short than to pour our all one's life history and bore listeners to sleep.
   
   
2. Failure to seek confidentiality. Many people forget that one's medical history is confidential information. It is prudent to point out that one is discussing privileged information.
   
   
3. Poor Me Syndrome. Neighbours rarely want to hear self-pitying complaints about life's problems (other than their own). It is much better to present oneself positively as this shows the strength and tenacity to do something constructive about one's situation. This in turn helps make the listener more confident in one's ability NOT to become a problem.
   
   
4. Expecting too much too soon. If one has lived in an area for some time, it is unreasonable, though understandable, to expect onlookers to immediately adapt to one's new status. A helpful thought is to remember how long it took to come to terms with one's own situation and not expect others to do better.
   
   
5. Leaving explanations up to someone else. Whether the "someone else" is another neighbour or one's own relatives or friends, it is definitely not wise to hope they have their facts correct. Only one person can have all the facts straight …
   
   
6. Lack of answers. Most of public and media ignorance stems from too few people remembering to correct false ideas. Onlookers say, "So, you used to be a man (woman) and you have this treatment to become a woman (man)". Seldom does anyone think to correct that silly idea. For the record:
   
   
   • Science is proving the ts-born person did not "used to be" anything other than trans the sexes from conception and not entirely a man or a woman.
     
     
   • Treatment removes the ambiguity, getting rid of the trans state as far as is medically possible.
     
     
   • One does not have to learn how to be something new; one has to unlearn how to be what everyone else insisted, for years.

© The contents of this website are copyrighted © You are welcome to download them for personal browsing off line but must not distribute, mirror, or publish them in whole or in part without the prior written consent of their respective copyright owners.