Karen Marie Vaughn is a former United States Marine and served as a Volunteer Firefighter for the Perrysburg Fire Department. She was employed by Fiat Chrysler for 32 years before retiring to begin her career as an author, speaker and LGBT advocate. She is the proud parent of a transgender child and runs several support groups for the transgender community. Vaughn currently lives in Perrysburg.
During her therapy for Gender Dysphoria she kept a diary, using it to write her first book, “The Journey of a Lifetime.” A book release event will be held Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m. at Gathering Volumes, 196 E. South Boundary St., Perrysburg.
“The Journey of a Lifetime” tells her story of coming to terms with her Gender Dysphoria, her decision to transition and how she came out to her friends and family. She speaks of the guilt, suffering and a lifelong sense that something was wrong. How she attempted to cope with her Gender Dysphoria, eventually coming to terms with being transgender. Then finally transitioning, allowing herself to become who she was meant to be.
By telling her story Vaughn hopes to help other transgender persons, their families and the general public to better understand what being transgender is. After releasing her book, a producer for The Learning Channel invited her and her family to be cast as one of the original families of TLC’s television show “Lost in Transition”, which aired in the summer of 2018.
Vaughn travels locally and nationally providing presentations and counseling on transgender rights, health and acceptance. She is a board member of Equality Toledo and serves as a ‘Voice for Transgender Equality” with the National Center for Transgender Equality in Washington D.C. When she isn’t traveling Karen is a receptionist for Perrysburg Counseling Services.
Vaughn is currently working on her first mystery novel with an expectation of being published in the spring of 2020.
