Too many times, parents of transgender children are accused of harming their child by encouraging them to live as the opposite gender. As in the case with these lesbian parents, they were accused of trying to make Tammy "like them." Having a transgender child is no easy task. Parents don't want this to happen. They didn't have the child and think "Oh gee, let me force him/her to be the opposite gender." (Though I'm sure there are some abuse cases where this has happened, it isn't what is going on here.)
The transgender child will face hardship in school with other children and even adults. The absolute BEST thing a parent can do is support their child.Too many times I've heard stories of transgender people being disowned or rejected by their parents. Shouldn't we praise those parents who do love their children unconditionally?
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| "When you talk about that, when you say that 'people know me for me' you are you." |
Not surprisingly, the article received some harsh feedback: What fuels transgender backlash?
Professor Diane Everett put it best when she said "We tend as a society to put people into boxes. Someone who is transgender is not only crossing gender boundaries, but also defying them. If people can't relate to you as an either-or, they have a hard time relating to you in their general comfort level."
My dad is one of those people who seem to think that things concerning the LBGT community are "sick" and "wrong." Love him to death, but he is definitely pro-traditional gender roles and anything that breaks those roles bothers him.
What do you think? Is it more harmful than not for parents to disregard their child's gender identity?
I find that, a lot of the times, but certainly not ALL of it, moms have an easier time accepting their kids' choices than dads, and I can't help but feel that comes from having literally used 9 months of your energy to bake a person. Both my dads (bio & step) would have a hard time accepting it, if they even could. I think the step could to an extent, but he'd make crude remarks to cover up his discomfort, thereby alienating the person and, in all honesty, kind of naturally taking care of the awkward problem by having said "problem" "choose" to go away. Bio would just flat-out cut them out entirely.
ReplyDeleteGod, my family is passive-aggressive.
Anyway.
I think kids know who they are in that department anyway. My mom's always been pushing me to be more effeminate, and it's never worked more than I wanted it to. I remember when I was five she bought me this pink umbrella with fake lace on the trim, so I might twirl it around outside like a parasol. I can count on one hand how often I used it, because even at 5 I was like, "But it never rains here!" She wanted me to be a princess, because that's all she wanted to be when she was growing up.
Why settle for princess when you can be queen, y'all? :p
And also, to be fair to my family, I don't think for sure ANYONE knows how they'll handle something like that unless/until they're faced with it. I showed my bff the link, and she was like, "I haven't decided yet [if I could accept them or not]." Granted, she was raised Orthodox, which doesn't help anything...
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, I show articles I like to my friends. :D