She's escaped death while chasing storms, but 'lost most everybody' after coming out
As the eye of Hurricane Laura passed over Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the early morning of Aug. 27, 2020, storm chaser Chimera Comstock took advantage of the brief calm to post a photo of herself on Twitter — rain-soaked and grinning as she held up a blue, pink and white transgender Pride flag in a hotel parking lot.
“Since I have all your attention right now in the #eye cat 4 of #HurricaneLaura I thought I would take this moment to #ComeOut as #trans to the world,” Comstock wrote in the tweet, which she has given NBC News permission to embed, even though it includes her former name. “I started HRT on Feb 17th 2020. Anyways back to surviving this #storm. See you all on the otherside! #transrightsarehumanrights!”
For Comstock, who grew up in Oklahoma, coming out felt like throwing off a mask she had worn since childhood.
“I wasn’t happy no matter where I was, just because it wasn’t me that was ever having the success,” Comstock said, noting that she is part of the “zero meter club,” the unofficial name given to a small group of seasoned storm chasers who have gotten as close as possible to a tornado without dying. “It wasn’t me that people were seeing or knew or became friends with — it was a character I played to hide the fact that I was trans.”
Rumors about her transition were already swirling within the storm chaser community, a small group of mostly men from conservative parts of the country, Comstock said. She also noted that there are not many openly gay storm chasers — and even fewer who are openly transgender.
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/trans-storm-chaser-escaped-deadly-tornadoes-lost-everybody-coming-rcna9647
= new reply since forum marked as read
# online #? congrats to this person.
I think coming out as trans there is braver than chasing storms............you go girl!!! 