Transgender model Lehlogonolo Machaba details her transition journey

People in the queer community continue to face challenges in their transitioning journeys, and this is why transgender model Lehlogonolo Machaba has decided to tell her story, hoping that through her challenges and victories others like her may be enlightened.

Before her journey and chapter of being the first openly transgender contestant in the Miss SA pageant, there was the Lehlogonolo who was born as a boy and trying to find her way out of the body in which she was trapped.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE she said she realised she was a transwoman when she was in high school.

“As soon as I reached 16/17 that's when I realised this is not a matter of sexual orientation but gender identity, and with that I suffered gender dysphoria for a very long time without realising what is gender dysphoria. Then at 16 I did a bit of research about the transgender community and that is when I came across Jenna Talackova, the first transwoman I identified with. Through her story I could identify my face and I started doing research about the trans community and that's when I came to the realisation that its possible to transition. I reached out to a few organisations that helped me see a psychiatrist and that's when my transition journey began.  I think that's when I started getting in touch with my womanhood.

“It was during this time after seeing a psychiatrist that I was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and gender dysmorphia because I wasn't comfortable in the body I was born in, so in order for me to be comfortable I had to undergo medical transition.”

Lehlogonolo started hormone replacement therapy, a process where natural hormones are replaced with intake hormones.

“At that time I was living with my father so the only person I educated was my father, that I want to undergo the whole transition process. He's literally the only person I told but my mom always knew. We had a conversation about how she could tell I was different from how a boy would behave. In my case it was more than just being a gay boy. I didn't have to disclose my identity to her because she already knew from a very young age. ”

The model said she had to Google a lot and eventually spoke to Gender Dynamics. They told her to reach out to a transgender and intersex organisation in Soshanguve since she was based in Mabopane. However lengthy the journey was, she was never afraid. 

“I think my biggest fear at that moment was that I'll grow to be a man. I was so interested in Ru Paul's Drag Race at that time, but I didn't want to be a drag queen. I was fascinated by the fact that they could change themselves to appear more feminine. I was drawn to it but I didn't want to be a drag queen. I didn't want to be classified as a man who uses costumes to portray something else.

“ I think the whole  HRT process for me it was quite exciting, knowing very well that I'm not going to be identified as a man and I'm going to look like what I've always felt inside.”

Lehlogonolo expressed her gratitude for supportive parents.

“My community has always been my family. The only people I feel have an impact in my life  have always been my parents. So the only people who mattered to say a word about my transition were my parents, and they've accepted me, so going out wasn't a problem.”