Imagine if you were told that your child was in a group facing the highest suicide attempt rates in the world. And perhaps even more frightening, you were also told that outside of your family your child’s life would often be at risk because people would want to kill or seriously harm your child. It wouldn’t just be the social rejection, although that would be hard enough, it wouldn’t just be the discrimination, it would be the pain of knowing your child’s very life was going to be at constant risk because of who they are.
Imagine that your child is transgender.
This story at the Boston Globe of the journey made by a conservative American family with identical twins where one twin is a transgender girl is so very much worth the read. Transgender rights are not about special rights, they’re not about stirring the pot, they’re not about making us (cisgender people) less of anything, they’re not about brainwashing our kids or watering down our own gender, they’re about protecting lives and allowing people to be safe and happy in who they are.
(Link via Clementine Ford).
I have so much respect and love for this family. They and everyone like them make the world a better place for us all. I know too well the struggles they will face and that they are tackling it so well is wonderful.
What a wonderful and compassionate family, to believe in their daughter and support her. I wish them all the best.
In such a serious situation the child needs the support of his/her family and I appreciate the family of the girl!
Thanks for the link. The article is beautiful. I have goosebumps and annoying prickly tear things in my eyes.
Thanks for this. Here’s another inspiring article on the same subject that refers to a Vancouver clinic that’s like the one in Boston: http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/08/12/when-boys-would-rather-not-be-boys/.
I read this article with tears in my eyes. Thought you might be interested in this post from a family I know in Vancouver, Canada. It’s an amazing story of the Vancouver School district dealing matter-of-factly with a young man’s transition. It makes me so proud to live in this city and know that my daughter, raised by a lesbian single mother, will be educated in this district.
http://genderfluidkid.blogspot.com/2011/12/becoming-cory-part-one.html
they seem like a super lovely family, and whatever can be done to protect those who don’t fit into narrowly defined and arbitrary patriarchal gender roles should be.
but golly gosh, did no-one notice that there was soooooo much gender stereotyping in that article!
boy = spiderman, action figures, pirates, swords, hunting deers, soccer, baseball, not holding your fathers hand, shoot ‘em up & military style video games
girl = tutus, pink & purple, princesses, mermaids, high heels, beads, sequins, dramatic flair, accessories, clothes, bikinis, mini-skirts, glitter, long hair, holding your fathers hand
it seems totally accepted that a boy, certainly not a straight boy, could not possibly have all those ‘girl’ traits. I wonder what a feminist analyst of gender in that situation would be like if there wasn’t a transgender kid involved? might we be talking about the pink and blue aisles at the toy store?
You’re not the only one who noticed, Trish. I wrote a little bit about it on my own blog, because I hadn’t been sure that a comment posted to the same effect would have been welcome (i.e., not derailing; I still struggle with what is a derail and what isn’t, so I tend to err on the side of caution).
Yes, it’s a good point.
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