A lot of Raelle Kaplan’s childhood consisted of acting. The plaid blouses and the white leather sandals at school, when all they wanted to wear were oversize crops and cargo shorts. The practice makeouts at sleepovers when they had no desire to date men. The smiles and nods at home when things were anything but normal. In the suburban North Carolina “white picket fence” environment in which they were raised, Kaplan’s journey to find their gender and sexual identity was rocky. “I’ve been hospitalized, I’ve been on meds, I’ve had suicide attempts,” they said, “I guess I’ve been through it all.”