“Thank you in advance for letting me be your mom,” wrote Braiden Schirtzinger in a letter to their future child, halfway through their pregnancy. Schirtzinger has shared more of their journey to parenthood—and their intertwined journey to self-understanding as a nonbinary person—with the Washington Post for a lengthy feature article and podcast episode.
In “A mother, but not a woman,” reporter Samantha Schmidt gives us Schirtzinger’s story. Schirtzinger had always identified as more masculine than feminine, Schmidt tells us, at one point expressing themselves as a butch lesbian, and then as a trangender man. Ultimately, however, they realized that a nonbinary identity was more true to who they were. Through all of this, however, “‘Mom’ was the only feminine term that had ever felt right.”
Go read the rest of their story through pregnancy and birth, or listen to it on the Post’s Post Reports podcast. There’s happiness and uncertainty; misgendering and gradual understanding; love and life; everyday moments and the miracle of birth. It’s a thoughtful, engaging piece that reminds me once again of the wonderful variety and individuality of parenthood stories, even within our common identity as parents. Thanks to Schirtzinger for sharing their story and to Schmidt for connecting us to it.