Anderson Cooper covers the topic of transgender children in his new daytime talk show today. (Find airing times in your area.)
Here are details about the show and two of its featured guests, via a press release:
On Wednesday, November 16, Anderson Cooper’s new daytime talk show, Anderson, will focus on transgender children – children whose gender behavior, expression, or identity does not comport with their biological gender – and their families. The episode will feature Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, a developmental psychologist and one of the nation’s leading experts on parenting of transgender and gender-nonconforming children. Dr. Ehrensaft’s appearance coincides with the release of her new book, Gender Made, Gender Born. Ehrensaft serves on the Board of Gender Spectrum (www.genderspectrum.org), a national organization offering educational, training and advocacy services to promote acceptance for transgender and gender-nonconforming children.
The episode will also feature Tammy Lobel and her family, who were also subjects of a recent CNN.com article. Tammy is an 11-year-old girl who was born as Tommy, and began identifying as a girl at age 3. Her parents, Debra Lobel and Pauline Moreno, are Gender Spectrum allies.
Dr. Ehrensaft’s research and writing focus on the areas of child development, gender, parenting, parent-child relationships, and psychological issues for families using assisted reproductive technology. She has a clinical practice in Oakland, California. Her areas of specialization include: families using assisted reproductive technology; gender nonconforming and transgender children; divorce and custody issues; children with developmental problems; and parenting. Dr. Ehrensaft is also a founding member of the developing Children and Youth Gender Clinic, a partnership between the University of California San Francisco and community agencies to provide comprehensive interdisciplinary services and advocacy to gender nonconforming/ transgender children and youth and their families.
In Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children (The Experiment, dist. by Workman Publishing/Pub date: May 31, 2011/$16.95), Dr. Ehrensaft presents a pioneering resource for parents whose children live outside preconceived gender norms and for professionals working with those families.
Emphasizing that we do not make gender-nonconforming children, they come to us, Dr. Ehrensaft offers parents, clinicians, and educators guidance on both the philosophical dilemmas and the practical, daily concerns of working with children who don’t fit a “typical” gender mold. Dr. Ehrensaft draws on her experience as both a psychologist and as a mother of a gender-nonconforming child—experience which extends over three decades. In Gender Born, Gender Made, she carefully considers outmoded approaches to gender nonconformity that may harm more than help, and offers a new framework for helping each child become his or her own unique, most gender-authentic person.