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.
Parents of transgender children “are the best parents ever. They unconditionally love their children, even when they don’t completely understand what their child is going through,” writes mom Tracie Stratton (herself such a parent) in Transitions of the Heart: Stories of Love, Struggle, and Acceptance by Mothers of Transgender and Gender Variant Children, edited by Rachel Pepper. That lesson of acceptance and love, conveyed through the 32 essays in the collection, make Transitions of the Heart a valuable read for any parent, regardless of the gender identity of their children.
I’m passing along this information about the Gender Spectrum Family Conference, a yearly gathering for gender nonconforming children, teens, and their families. I’m not involved in the organization myself, but I’ve heard many good things about it.
Sometimes a story about an LGBT family comes along that really stands out for its warmth, understanding, and optimism. Today, NPR’s StoryCorps ran “A Mom Becomes A Man, And A Family Sticks Together,”about Les GrantSmith, a transgender man, his husband Scott, and their two daughters. It’s a wonderful account that stays consistently positive without hiding the challenges the family faced. Here’s the lovely beginning:
There’s a new LGBTQ character coming to television that I haven’t seen much coverage of yet—and because the character is a gender-variant child, I’ll take up the cause of spreading some awareness here at this parenting blog. Showtime’s new comedy series, House of Lies, which starts this Sunday, stars Don Cheadle as a “charming, fast
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
You’re probably saying, “What would make this Monday morning just perfect is a new comic about a pregnant butch lesbian.” What? You’re not? Well, you should be. Go check out A.K. Summers’ new comic/graphic tale, “Pregnant Butch” over at comic collective site Act-i-vate. It’s a funny, insightful, semi-autobiographical look at “a butch dyke enduring that
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
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:
Halloween is almost upon us, the holiday that underscores like no other that society has certain gender expectations for boys and girls. Girls, by and large, are princesses; boys tend towards the violent as superheroes, Star Wars characters, soldiers, or pirates. But each year, it seems, at least one family makes the news because their child wants to defy those boundaries.
