Today, at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Equality Act, the most powerful testimony came from 16-year-old Stella Keating, a high school sophomore, a transgender girl, and a possible future senator (or even president) herself.
Those who have met me, even briefly, know one thing about me: I’m small. I stand 5’0″ in my socks and I’m not too hefty. I’ve been an athlete all my life, though, and have almost always competed against opponents who are taller and heavier. That’s only one of the reasons why I don’t understand those who want to limit transgender girls’ participation in girls’ sports.
The LGBTQ community has lost a light this week. Monica Roberts, a groundbreaking transgender journalist and blogger, died in Houston at age 58. She started her blog, TransGriot, shortly after I began this one. I had the honor of meeting her at several conferences, and was always struck by her strength, knowledge, and commitment to lifting up trans youth.
Transgender children have been much in the headlines after President Trump rescinded Title IX protections for trans students. That would be enough to make Laurie Frankel’s new novel, about parents raising a trans daughter, relevant and timely. This Is How It Always Is would, however, be an exceptional book about parenting, family, and identity at any time.
“Holy,” the first video from the new children’s album celebrating transgender and gender expansive children may just bring tears of joy to your eyes. Watch.
This video of Debi Jackson, a self-proclaimed “conservative Southern Baptist Republican from Alabama,” talking about her six-year-old transgender daughter, will bring tears of happiness to your eyes.
From the time he could talk, the Whittington family’s child Ryland insisted he was a boy, even though his parents initially thought he was a girl. Their support of his true identity is a heartwarming and inspiring story for all parents.
Just to mix things up, let’s start with some news from the Commonwealth of Nations: Celia Hannon of the U.K.’s Guardian weighs in on the debate about the merits of lesbian parents vs. straight parents. Her take on the matter is similar to mine, which is that the whole debate about which sexual orientation makes
The New York Times is chock full o’ LGBT family goodness this weekend: Lisa Belkin’s “What’s Good for the Kids” looks at recent research showing that children of lesbian and gay parents tend to be more tolerant and less bound by gender stereotypes and assumptions. She relies heavily on a new book by Abbie Goldberg,
Helen and I share a children’s book about Harvey Milk, though Helen questions my obsession with historical accuracy. We then discuss a must-listen radio piece about transgender children (more details in my post here), and turn to lighter matters with a look at the several parenting storylines on last week’s The L Word, including Max’s
