Apologies for cross-posting. Please see bottom of post for added links that may help to demonstrate this project's credibility!

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TL;DR: Participate in an online guided writing study to advance free and evidence-based therapeutic tools for trans communities & earn $20 for yourself or a trans/nb NGO.

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Hi there! My name is Lindsey White (they/them) and I am a 31yo nonbinary therapist, long time reddit lurker, and 6th year PhD student in Counseling Psychology at UMass Boston. With my colleague Dr. Heidi Levitt we have developed the Transphobia Healing Project! Our team targets translating evidence-based therapy tactics into at-home exercises in order to reach low-resourced communities, or folks who don’t readily have access to affirming therapists.

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We are seeking participants to engage in three 15-minute-long online expressive writing exercises that contain prompts to help guide them as they reflect on a distressing experience related to their gender. Pre and post surveys are used to measure changes in mental health, and a follow-up survey to see if changes sustain after a month.

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Financial Compensation: We are committed to providing direct financial support to trans/nb communities through our research. Participants have 2 payment options: 1) Choose an org that serves trans communities and WE will make a $20 to that org on your behalf (see list of orgs below), or 2) Receive a $20 Amazon gift card via email.

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Here's a snapshot of how the THP will work:

1. 2-minute screening call – verify you meet study criteria & we can answer any of your questions (Criteria: over 18, live in US, gender identity, not currently in crisis)
2. Pre-study survey
3. Writing exercise 1
4. Writing exercise 2
5. Writing exercise 3 + post-study survey
6. 1-month follow-up survey + $20 pay-out in your preferred method

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*Click the link here to get started on the project or to learn more about THP*

https://umassboston.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0v0DbXaVyhSRQjk

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Organizations on our Donation List:

• Trans Lifeline
• Black Trans Femmes in the Arts
• Trans Women of Color Collective
• Transgender Law Center – Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP)
• Transgender Legal, Defense & Education Fund
• Queer Detainee Empowerment Project

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Research Team

• Project Manager: Lindsey White, EdM, MA (they/them) (me!)
• Principal Investigator: Heidi Levitt, PhD (UMB faculty page; Google Scholar profile)
• Research team's webpage - learn more about our team, and view a bibliography of completed projects and recent publications
• UMass Boston IRB: irb@umb.edu (Approval Number: 2013091)
• Project Email: UMBStudySchedule@gmail.com

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A note to our trans & nonbinary community members:

In my experience working with LGBTQIA+ folks in research, I know that many of our community members are understandably on guard against malicious people who harm us and our loved ones This is especially strong in our trans, nonbinary, and gender diverse communities (and, of course, in online spaces). To folks who feel concerned about a post like this, I wanted to say thank you for looking out and wanting to protect our communities. To help put folks at ease, I wanted to provide a few more links that may help to demonstrate a credible online professional presence, and a history of engagement in research in service of LGBTQIA+ communities.

1. This is a study that Dr. Levitt, myself and colleagues have published on challenges some LGBTQIA+ folks have encountered while trying to become parents. It was cited in an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend foster care non-discrimination.
2. This is THP's "sister study" from our research team, which was developed for people with minority sexual identities.
3. You can see some of our faces in our webpage bios.
4. Finally, if you are more comfortable reaching out to an official "umb.edu" email address, you are welcome to email myself (Lindsey.White001@umb.edu), Dr. Levitt (Heidi.Levit@umb.edu), or the UMass Boston IRB (irb@umb.edu) directly with any questions or concerns.

Confidentiality, Data, & Ethics: The questionnaires you complete and the writing exercises you complete are the data that will be collected for analysis in this study. This data will help us to learn how these exercises function and how helpful they are for experiences of transphobia. Any confidential information you share will be kept confidential within the research team. That is, the information gathered for this project will not be published, shared, or presented in a way that would allow anyone else to identify you. The data collected in this study will be kept in confidence within the limits allowed by law. Psychologists have an obligation to report active threats of harming oneself or others (so please do not participate if you are actively in crisis, but instead we encourage you to call Trans Lifeline 877-565-8860) . No identifying information (e.g., names, addresses) will be recorded on your writing exercises or surveys and if you include identifying information in your writing exercises it will be deleted from our records. Your email address will be known only by the lead investigator of this project and graduate students trained in research ethics and confidentiality who are helping to schedule screening and send email reminders. All identifying records of your identification (e.g., email address) will be destroyed within one year of your completing your participation in this project.

Did anyone had trouble coming out because people thought you meant “Polyamorous”?

Not thinking of the one this sub uses as it is an alternate flag. I'm thinking of the flag that looks like polysexual but with a heart inside

Hi. AFAB androgyne here. I've ID'd as polyromantic for a little while now, though I've gone back to do some soul-searching lately.

I adopted this label because my partner came out as non-binary -- after telling me they might very well be trans in the physical sense -- and I didn't bat an eye. I had read that many people get very upset and confused when their partners do this, feeling upheaved and spiral into questioning their own sexual and romantic orientation.. but I was totally fine.

Before my partner's reveal, however, I noticed I had found myself getting a fairly big crush on a cis-female friend of mine. That crush is long-since over, and it had me wondering if I was bi for a while, but two very important things stood out:

A) I didn't want to really sleep with her, just wanted to be near her (and eventually learned I'm gray-ace, but that's another story altogether), and
B) She was more aesthetically attractive to me when in drag -- she's a drag king.

SO.. bringing me full-circle here:

I don't know precisely how many genders there are, but what I do know is that I seem to be romantically attracted to the more masculine-leaning gender identities and expression. That being said, clearly if my established partner ever realized "Hey, I'm a woman and I possibly want surgery," or if my partner wanted to start presenting and/or acting femme, I would feel no confliction.

I know I'm not really attracted to cis-women and femme-leaning people -- rather, I would not be likely to get the heart-flutters over their pictures or just seeing them on the streets -- but my heart definitely makes exceptions for certain close people.

Not to get all hung up on labels, but.. is this still polyromanticism?

I think I might be polyromantic because whenever I think of a relationship the first people to come to mind are girls and enbies and I have trouble thinking of being in a relationship with a guy, but whenever I think of a polyamorous relationship I believe I could be with a guy but only with a girl or enby present in the relationship as well. Is this considered polyromantic?

My name is Teodore, but you can call me Teo for short. I'm transgender (ftm), I go by he/him pronouns, I'm polyromantic and possibly on the asexual spectrum. It feels nice to be around people with the same romantic orientation as me!

I like women, androgynous enbies and some other genders but not men. I used to think I was just lesbian because I didn't know polyromantic/polysexual was a thing, but when I found out I was trans I had to rethink some things.

I'd love to hear your names and stories! <3

Hi all,

I volunteer as a human rights coordinator for a non profit and have begun a How to be an Ally series. My first presentation on trans and enby identities went over well and a lot of allies said they learned a lot! One of my next presentations will be on those under the pan/bi attracted umbrella so I'm sourcing from the community what identities mean to each individual. If you'd like to participate you can fill out this form: https://forms.gle/qJpUB3uGzj7sWLmG7

The answers will be used in quotes in the presentation

I'm genderfaun, asexual, and aroflux, but when I'm alloromantic I'm polyromantic, so I hope I belong here. As far I can tell, I'm into every gender but male, I might not be into people who are male at all either, but I'm not quite sure about that. I realized I'm polyromantic (when I'm alloromantic) at literally 4:00 A.M. last night, and it's so obvious I don't know how I didn't realize sooner.

Hi! I just found this subreddit so hello! I am asexual polyromantic, so thanks for making this. I hope everyone is doing good :)

eee i'm really happy about it- i met her a little while ago and we've been dating for a lil bit now and i'm proud of myself for trusting again honestly-

we have a date planned for post-quarentine and i'm so psyched!!!

that's all from me, peace out bromos xo

hey, how's y'all doing?

i'm a transgender polyromantic demisexual (pants) and i don't really see much representation for polysexuality, and even less for us polyromantics.

i've identified for a couple of months now, and the label feels really comfortable!

best of luck to this sub, i'm here for the journey !

Hello! I'm really new to Reddit, so pardon the basically blank account- I'm not a troll.

I've known something was different about me when I was about in the 8th grade when I was introduced to my junior high's GSA club. I didn't quite feel I belonged, but I knew I had a firm connection to the community- and thus began a whirlwind of years full of self discovery. I just recently turned 18 and I'm proud to say I'm a Polyromantic Demi-Pansexual and have identified as such for almost two years now.

I know the owner literally just made this sub yesterday, and I just became it's second member, but I'm so excited to see this sub grow as a community and help spread awareness of the middle ground between pan and bi people in this world, and provide the support we all need.

Cheers to the future members of r/polyromantic!