Hello, I'm Melvin - one of the creators of Begin TransMission - a collab channel by and about same-gender, and gay and queer trans men and bi trans men. And I am bringing you the topic for the second week. This week's topic focuses on dating experiences with other men. As a trans man who is attracted to other men, I feel we sometimes struggle in that area, especially within a gay male culture that emphasizes a specific type of body as being desirable. So how do you deal with all that when dating? Do you date cisgender men or trans men or both or does it not matter? Have you had a difficult time finding guys to date, or is it easy for you? What types of men are you attracted to? At what point do you disclose your trans status - do you tell people up front or do you wait? I'm in a relationship with a guy now, but when it comes to dating other guys, my experience has been limited, ignoring the casual encounters I've had. I've definitely had a difficult time finding men to date. At any rate, when I date, I do not disclose up front. I usually, in fact, don't tell people I'm trans until we are already making out or intimate in some way. I do that because I feel that disclosing up front would lead to people just dismissing me right away based on some stereotype they might have about trans people. I think a lot of people would actually be open to dating a trans person after taking the time to get to know them first. I met my current boyfriend on OKCupid, and I didn't disclose in my profile that I was trans. But, he has a good trans-radar and through the pictures apparently he could tell I was trans. But anyway, so yeah, tell us about your dating life. Feel free to answer any of those questions that I raised as a prompt or go in a different direction. Make a video, those who are viewing this, you can make a video. And just hashtag the title #BeginTransMission or leave us some comments about your experiences with dating. I also want to remind folks to follow us on Tumblr at begintransmissionblog.tumblr.com. Not only do we post all our videos there, but we have a fourth contributor, Myles, who is posting essays on each topic. He chooses to be stealth so he isn't making any videos. But you can read his essays - his submissions - over at the Tumblr. He posted a beautiful essay last week about how he has come out to identify as a black, masculine, gay man who is secure in his identity. So it's awesome. So please check it out. Alright. Look forward to hearing from you all. Continue to share and subscribe. Peace!