It was March of 2016, and I was at our town’s community center to vote. A woman I had known since I had moved to town was checking me in. As usual, she was asking how my children were. Our children grew up together. Her oldest son was in the same grade as my oldest,… Continue reading How to Respond When Others Ask About Your Child
Trans Like Me is a powerful blend of biography and cultural exploration into the broad experience of being transgender and how that term encompasses a vast range of gender-diverse people. The reader is introduced to concepts such as dysphoria and gender non-conforming youth, in addition to exploring how the use of gender binaries creates the… Continue reading Review: Trans Like Me by CN Lester
Until the last year or two, I didn’t notice that during June, every corporation, it seems, comes out with an item plastered in rainbow colors and promotes their ‘Pride Line’ and encourages the LGBTQ+ community to be ‘loud and proud.’ Shoe stores are selling rainbow laces and water bottles, and every other ad on Facebook… Continue reading Pride Month and Stonewall – Fifty Years Later I’m Still Afraid for My Sons
Last June, I attended my first Pride event at Fenway Park, which you can read about here. When I first heard about the event, my first thoughts were about how it was someplace local, someplace familiar, and someplace we would all enjoy. I bought the tickets, reserved the date, and was excited to both spend… Continue reading Yes, You Belong at Pride
I Am J is a novel that deep dives into the hard truths of being transgender and how it impacts not only the individual person but also their entire family. Cris Beam’s character J struggles with how to tell his close friends and family that his personal identity matches how he outwardly expresses his gender,… Continue reading Review: I Am J by Cris Beam
Our son came out as transgender in a Facebook announcement. In it, he told the world that he wished for us to use the name he had chosen, and the male pronouns he, his, and him. After nineteen-and-a-half years of using she, her, and hers, switching to new pronouns when speaking about my son proved… Continue reading Using Proper Gender Pronouns
Six months after my youngest son came out as transgender, my Grampa passed away. This came during a time when my heart was already raw. I was still navigating the turbulent waters of loss and grief, as I came to accept life without the presence of a daughter in it. There were days when I… Continue reading Using Your Child’s Chosen Name
Over the past several years, I’ve heard a lot of arguments against people being transgender. “People are born either male or female, and they should stay that way.” “The Bible says it’s wrong so it must be.” “It’s a mental illness, and if those people got some help they’d be cured.” “It’s not natural.” I… Continue reading Not Liking Something Does Not Make it False
The International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) is an annual event that takes place on March 31st. According to the TDOV website, it was founded in 2009 which makes this the tenth year it has been celebrated. The purpose of TDOV is to honor and celebrate the accomplishments and victories of the transgender community, while… Continue reading Transgender Day of Visibility
When my youngest son came out as transgender in January of 2016, he did so in a Facebook life event post. When I read it for the first time, there were words and phrases in the post that I found myself reading over and over. I wasn’t exactly sure what my child was trying to… Continue reading What Exactly Does it Mean to be Transgender?
