It’s Transgender Awareness Week, so here are a few recent stories about some of the many ways of being a transgender parent.
- In “I Didn’t Think Being A Pregnant Man Was A Big Deal. Then I Went Viral,” Trystan Reese of Biff and I tells the story of being pregnant—very publicly—after telling his story to the podcast The Longest Shortest Time.” Reese doesn’t flinch from sharing the bias and hatred that he faced, but also adds the hopeful observation that “Trans kids would come up to me with their parents, like in the grocery store, and just say thank you for helping them understand that there’s more than one way to be a man, and more than one way to be trans.”
- Reese is also profiled by Nayirah Muhammad at the Advocate in a piece more broadly about transgender people giving birth.
- The IVFML podcast speaks with Shea and Sienna Gilliam, a couple who were planning to become parents when Shea came out as trans. Reese makes an appearance in his role as director of family formation at Family Equality Council.
- Rory Mickelson tells their story, “I’m Pregnant, but I’m Not a Woman,” at the Advocate.
- The Masculine Birth Ritual podcast isn’t exclusively about trans people, but several episodes of this new-ish podcast discuss transgender people and parenthood.
- New pieces about trans women and parenthood seem to be in short supply right now, but here’s a lovely one from last May by Mey Valdivia Rude, “On Trans Motherhood, and My Reality of Never Having Biological Children.” Rude writes, “Maybe instead of biology, I should be cursing the culture that taught me I’m less of a woman because I can’t have children.”
- Additionally, here’s a video by Dawn Ennis in which she discusses what it is like for her “to be both trans and a widow. To be a mom whom my kids call ‘Dad.’”
- Melody Maia Monet wrote about “Parent’s Day” for her Trans of Thought column during the period between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day last year.
- Denise Brogan-Kator also wrote about “Navigating Mother’s Day as a Transgender Woman” and her “identity is as my children’s father” this past April.
- And Rebel Circus gave us a whole roundup of “Transgender Mothers That Will Inspire You.”
For more resources on transgender parents, see the post I wrote for the Transgender Day of Visibility last year. Also check out my book lists of children’s and middle-grade books on gender identity. I offer these as an act of allyship as a cisgender woman, but recognize my limitations. I’m not an expert on transgender topics and defer to those who are. A deep thanks to all the trans parents who have chosen to share their stories with the world.
