Halloween often brings up the topic of kids and gender expression, so I thought I’d highlight a recent post from Pajamamamas about navigating her almost-six-year-old son’s shoe choices.
I’m always thrilled at how really, truly diverse the LGBT community is, beyond just the broad categories people tend to think of when they typically think of “diversity.” We subdivide down into a glorious array of shared identities and individuality. Two writers proved that recently by each offering a different perspective on parenting as a butch.
Sez Me is a new Web video series for kids that aims to “[celebrate] differences and diversity with a focus on the GLBTQ community” and ” the involvement of adults who represent non-traditional gender expressions (self-identified drag queens, masculine women, feminine men, gender queers, and trans people).” Sounds like a great idea — but is it any good?
Two thoughtful pieces this week reflect on supporting our children’s gender expression, and both are worth a read.
There have been several great items this week on children and gender identity and expression, including a terrific new 15-minute video from TransActive Education & Advocacy. Have a look.
Here’s today’s must-read article: Melissa Bollow Tempel, a first-grade teacher in Jackson, Wisconsin, has written at Together For Jackson County Kids about how she approaches issues of gender stereotypes, gender variance, and gender-based bullying. It’s full of insight and actionable ideas. Good stuff, and worth sharing. (For more on the topic, you might also want to
I’ve posted a few longish pieces recently, How to Help Aging LGBT Parents and Are Boys in Princess Dresses the Scariest Thing on Halloween?, along with information about a couple of major new reports on LGBT families, “Expanding Resources for Children III: Research-Based Best Practices in Adoption by Gays and Lesbians” and “All Children Matter:
What can bathroom signs tell us about gender, sex, and society? Plenty, according to this great article by Marissa at The Society Pages, a multidisciplinary social science project organized by the University of Minnesota’s sociology department. Marissa has gathered an extensive, thought-provoking, and occasionally hilarious collection of bathroom signs from around the world. (A few
Shirley Tan, the lesbian mom in California who was on the verge of being deported and separated from her partner and twin sons by immigration officials, has been given a two-week reprieve. Congressional sponsors reintroduced the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, which states that federally funded sex education programs in the nation’s public schools
(Originally published in Bay Windows, July 10, 2008.) Two new works offer much-needed guidance for families with transgender members, but each approaches the subject from a different perspective. One addresses parents of transgender children, while the other targets children of transgender parents. The Transgender Child, by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper (Cleis, 2008), is subtitled,
