The idea of being transgender is an enigma to the roughly 96.5 percent of the world’s population that is cisgender. To be cisgender is to be born into the “right body;” in other words, the gender of your soul matches the body parts you were assigned to. To be transgender, however, is to be born into what some describe as the “wrong body.” This is the reality experienced by transgender people: that their mental, spiritual, and emotional gender does not match the sex they were physically given.

“What exactly does that mean?” a cis person often wonders when a trans person tries to explain what it is like to live with this type of identity confusion, known as gender dysphoria. It is defined as “the condition of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as a male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex.” However, this definition only scratches the surface of what it means to experience such large-scale disorientation.

Trans people express that gender dysphoria feels like looking in the mirror at a stranger, a mirage, a distant mystery. It seems nearly impossible to mentally conceive for someone who has never felt it. However, trans people and their allies have made great strides in the year 2015, which Time Magazine calls “the transgender tipping point.” This means that the current year is the point of inflection for transgenders in society. After eons of silence, they are finally able to speak out and have the choice to express their gender identity however they may please. This may include surgery, which many trans people have undergone in order to complete the transition between one gender to the next.

For many, it takes years to be ready for gender reassignment surgery and some never choose to go down that path. Instead, there are other options such as taking hormone pills or crossdressing, although these do not actually change someone’s physical sex.

In 2015, more transgender celebrities have come into the spotlight than in any year preceding. For instance, Laverne Cox, who completed the transition from male to female, is the first transgender to be nominated for an Emmy award.

One of the most well-known household names has come out as transgender in recent months: Bruce Jenner. Jenner was named the world’s best athlete after he triumphed at the 1972 Olympic’s decathlon event. He has been in three different marriages, all of which he has children from, and starred on the popular reality series Keeping Up With the Kardashians. After all these years, Jenner has decided to embrace his true female identity and undergo gender reassignment surgery.

These celebrities can give trans people guidance and hope, while enlightening the rest of the world on the importance of tolerance. 2015 needs to finally be the year that people attempt to understand the struggles and aspirations of those around them who have been suffering through gender dysphoria. With this understanding, trans people will be accepted and thus able to thrive in society as they deserve, along with everyone else.