One of the things that I'm a bit in awe of are the folks on Twitter who continually advocate for trans lives. Often, it's trans people themselves, but there are allies as well. I saw this tweet today - and it struck me. Toni makes a great point here of showing, in a few phrases,…Read more Denial
transgender
Generational Contact
This post may seem a little self-serving, but I'm still thinking about how digital culture has changed, and is changing, how transgender people connect. A few days ago (for the first time) I was tagged in a twitter post connecting me to a younger trans man who was bewailing the lack of elders from other…Read more Generational Contact
Digital Cultures – Transgender Lives and Valentine’s Day
I'm working on my Master's Degree in Library and Information Science. The class I'm taking this semester is Digital Cultures. As part of my class work, I will be blogging for the rest of the semester about a particular subset of Digital Culture; Transgender people. I've seen a lot of change in how transgender people…Read more Digital Cultures – Transgender Lives and Valentine’s Day
The Catholic Hierarchy and the Lost Trans Sheep
I have been swamped with my job for the last several weeks. While I was out on a work trip, I received a text from my friend Sister Luisa, exhorting me to read my email and respond as quickly as I could. I was in the middle of things, and filed it away to do…Read more The Catholic Hierarchy and the Lost Trans Sheep
A Funny Thing Happened at the Fox….
A snippet of a real conversation at the Fox a couple of years ago. Setting: The line for the men's bathroom at a concert intermission. The Fox is an older theatre and the bathrooms aren't large - the lines were hanging out of both bathrooms. A gentleman is looking for the food line. The concessions…Read more A Funny Thing Happened at the Fox….
Diverse LGBTQ YA books
In the spring semester of 2018, my Master's Degree class was Young Adults in the Library. For one of my projects, I assembled a reading list of Young Adult books that were both LGBTQ in nature as well as diverse and created the below graphic for them. I read each of these books before recommending…Read more Diverse LGBTQ YA books
New Beginnings
I started this blog two years ago. I did not do a good job of keeping it updated in 2018, particularly the latter half of the year. I was challenged by too many other things; mostly the medical issues that I had going on that have been my own private trial. Anyone who ever tries…Read more New Beginnings
Why Parents of Trans Kids Are A Special Kind of Tired
Parents of trans children amaze me on a regular basis. They don’t think they are doing anything special, they are only doing what any parent who loves their child and wants to see them happy and successful would do.
However, previous generations of trans people did not have this kind of love and support at home. Often, our parents were our first or worst enemies. Even now, near half of homeless kids are LGBT – homeless because parents have discarded them.
These parents are blazing a trail that is going to make a difference.
Yes. All parents walking the earth are tired.
We are all absolutely in solidarity with that fact.
We could all use about a week on a deserted island without any children, technology, or responsibilities of any kind.
But I feel the need to tell you about the special kind of tired that parents of transgender kids are experiencing.
It’s different than most versions of tired.
And this isn’t to “one-up”. And this certainly isn’t to take away from an LGBTQIA child themselves, their own struggles and hardships. This isn’t to take away from, or distract from… anyone.
This isn’t a competition.
This is just to simply explain and shed light on how we’re feeling, since it’s of my belief that we, the parents of trans youth, are living in our own marginalized community.
Unless we happen to live in some uber progressive area, we are all acutely aware of…
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Representation Matters
I haven't written a new post in a while. My original goal was to make sure I had at least one new post a month. Life got overwhelming early this year, and it was all I could do to keep up with the must-do list. Many of my other life goals had to be postponed…Read more Representation Matters
The Flip Side of being Out
Those of us who are LGBT live on a "coming out wheel." We don't just come out once. Every new person we meet, every new job, new class, new social situation starts the process over again. Sometimes we feel used to it, but often it's a familiar feeling of motion sickness, if you will. Some…Read more The Flip Side of being Out