Submitted by Maureen Marinkovich

San Juan Island is a community welcoming to progressive ideas, and ready to support those who wish to express themselves in new and different ways. Nicolas Blooms is a man who followed along with progressive ideas when he was in high school and was supported by his peers and non-profit organizations to the point that the support has caused harm to him and his body.

Maureen Marinkovich is sponsoring Nicolas to come to San Juan Island for two speaking engagements on May 9 (Grange 6 p.m.) and 11th (Mullis Center 6 p.m.). Everyone is cordially invited. “Nicholas’ story speaks to the interesting social situation which exists on San Juan Island surrounding gender identification, and what our youth may decide to do about it,” said Marinkovich.

Nicolas will tell his personal story, addressing questions regarding gender, which are asked more today than ever before. Nicolas had trouble getting used to his body through adolescence; after being influenced by social media and peers, he determined he was transgender. After a 30-minute consultation with Planned Parenthood, the eighteen-year-old senior in high school went home with two gender-transitioning prescriptions. Two years later he chose to stop taking the hormone medication, which made him a “detransitioner.”

Nicolas’ approach to this topic is with love, compassion, and understanding. He feels this is a soul issue and it is possible to heal from gender dysphoria. Nicolas realizes transgenderism is real, but perhaps not as common as some perceive. Instead, he sparks curiosity for parents and children to build inner resilience beyond the influence of the path of permanent surgical and hormonal interventions.

To share this wisdom and perspective, Nicolas has authored a book directed towards young adults called Trans to Detrans and is illustrating a series of children’s books that emphasize resilience. These books are unavailable at your local library; please consider placing an order through Amazon. Please help encourage the library to consider including these books on their shelves: our collective voices can help our community have access to these types of books and speakers.

Marinkovich feels Nicolas’ message is important for our community. “We’ve noticed our community is very supportive of people, including children, on the path toward transitioning,” Marinkovich said. “Conversely there is no community platform available to discuss gender dysphoria as an experience that is transitory, rather than transitive.”

After being unable to secure sponsorship or outside support, Marinkovich felt it was important enough to bring this speaker to the island at her own expense. If you feel like contributing to help defray the cost, she appreciates any contribution to her GiveSendGo campaign

“Our intention in offering Nicolas’ perspective to our community is to gently broach this topic in a way that offers a loving and empathetic perspective to the gender confusion that our youth and families (and/or adults) are experiencing today,” said Marinkovich.

Marinkovich has fronted the money needed to bring Nicolas and his parents to SJI, but has set up a GoFundMe page, and a GiveSendGo page, seeking donations to defray the cost of this visit or perhaps to continue to bring interesting perspectives to our island. More information about Nicolas Blooms can be found at www.linktr.ee/nicolasblooms.