WWF shares personal stories from staff about their connections with nature. Daniel Vernick has actually operated at WWF for 4 years. They belong to We’re Here: LGBTQ+ at WWF.
My feet rest in the soft lawn, damp soil, and wiry pine needles on top of a hill. I feel safe here, grounded in the effective earth listed below me. Blue jays chat carefully, and I soak up rays of night spring sunlight. The golden light brightens lavish fields listed below. My back is supported by a big maple tree, its branches rustling in the breeze as its fragile green buds begin to unfurl. It doesn’t matter what I appear like, whether my clothing appear womanly or manly. I am who I am, and the trees are who they are, existing on this little, unique world that all of us call home. It remained in this space, at Drumlin Farm in Massachusetts, rooted in nature and neighborhood, that I acquired the nerve to become the individual I am today.
I determine as genderqueer and transfeminine. That suggests that I feel my genuine self when I don’t sign up for the male gender expectations that society appointed to me at birth. By stepping beyond those pressures and welcoming womanhood, I live life as my happiest, max self. Coming out—that is, freely welcoming the individual I really am—was the single most transformative and positive experience of my life. I am tremendously grateful to be surrounded by good friends, good example, and neighborhoods who raise me up for who I am.
