A YOUNG transgender couple who have been subjected to harsh judgement from both family and strangers are planning their wedding to one another. Dakota Pierce, 27, and Blair Cherelstein, 25, have been together for just over two years after meeting on Instagram. The couple, who live in Frederick, Maryland, have both gone through similar experiences to become who they are today. Blair, who is transfeminine, came out as transgender when she was 16 years old. Dakota came out as transmasculine in 2017 after graduating from college and he has been taking testosterone for almost two years. Dakota told Truly: “To be with somebody who understands that little extra thing about me, about being trans, has given me the opportunity to let me just be myself.” The pair are now engaged after Dakota popped the question in October 2018. Yet despite their commitment to one another, the pair have faced criticism for their choices as individuals and as a couple. “Some people have used our transness against us,” Dakota explains. “People have followed us, or we get messages online.” Unfortunately, though, it’s not just strangers that have been the couple’s harshest critics. Dakota was raised in a strict Christian household and didn’t have the same support Blair did from his parents, particularly his mother. “It got to the point where she was telling me that she was having everybody in church hold vigils for me.” The pair are currently planning their wedding, which they describe as “non-traditional”.