With it being Pride Month, I thought I would broach the topic of menopause and identity.

Happy Pride Month in celebration of our LGBTQI+ community!

My mind is on the topic of menopause every day. As we enter Pride Month, I searched on stories about how LGBTQI+ people experience menopause. Just like other phases of our reproductive health, starting with menstruation and moving through menopause, I can’t help but think that identity adds another layer of uniqueness…and loneliness.

I’ve mentioned before and I say it again, we are masters at masking our trek through menopause. But consider if you had another layer of covering that masks your day-to-day? Identity – whether you identify as straight, gay, transgender, ***, inter-sex or gender-neutral – complicates how you show up.

Most recently, I read Bunny Cook’s article in Hello Magazine titled “The menopause and me – when you're gender neutral.” We’ve all felt invisible at times, but Cook’s comments about the lack of menopausal health information and how it’s portrayed in the media made me pause when she stated,

“…a bit of information targeted at me, people like me, might have helped. It might have helped show me the way, from puberty to menopause, and educated me a bit more – and made me loathe my truth a bit less.”

A few months ago, genneve’s private Facebook community Midlife & Menopause Solutions welcomed our first transgender male. We didn’t know how a community of self-identifying women would welcome someone who identifies differently yet experiences the same hormone-inducing changes that the female reproductive system naturally goes through.

If you’ve ever had a warm, nurturing hug that almost brings you to tears, that’s what it felt like. This community showed up, and I was in awe of how everyone embraced him because we all had one thing in common: menopause.

Whatever you believe or identify as, I sincerely hope you will take pause to consider every person in menopause who is celebrating Pride Month. If you don’t agree or have more to add, you know I love honest feedback and conversation. Email me jill@gennev.com.

 Stay tuned for next week’s blog which will reveal your responses to last week’s post on What do we call “women in menopause”? In hindsight, I should have broadened it to What do we call “people in menopause.” #imlearning.

Stay chill. Happy Pride.