My son Leo came out as transgender in January 2016. It has been almost seven years, and for the most part, I don’t think about it anymore. Not like I did during the first four or five years. It doesn’t consume me as it did during the first two years. But some days are still… Continue reading Some Days Are Still Hard
I found out my son Leo is transgender through a Facebook post. After reading that post multiple times in disbelief, I opened up Google. I searched multiple things because I didn’t know what I was looking for. I also didn’t understand what Leo had just told me. “What does it mean to be transgender,” “What… Continue reading When You’re Worried About Your Child’s Safety
Guest post by Ember Richardson Arlynx. It is my pleasure to introduce you to people whose lived experiences will help you better understand what it is like to be transgender. Each year, we celebrate Non-Binary People’s Day on July 14, and the week surrounding that is Non-binary Awareness Week. Non-Binary People’s Day was first observed… Continue reading Guest Post: Non-Binary Awareness Week
It wasn’t until the past few years that I knew what gender-neutral language was. When I was younger, everything was split and labeled by the gender binary. We either had a mailman or a mail-lady, not a postal person. People had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, not a partner. I was in the military for… Continue reading Using Gender-Neutral Language
There was so much I didn’t know the day I learned my son was transgender. In addition to not understanding what the word transgender meant, I didn’t know what it meant for my son. Because I learned Leo is transgender from a social media post, I had a lot of time to overthink what that… Continue reading Your Transgender Child is Not a Different Person
Guest post by Leo Richardson It is my pleasure to introduce you to people whose lived experiences will help you better understand what it is like to be transgender. Each year on March 31, we observe International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). The purpose is to celebrate transgender, non-binary, and gender-nonconforming people worldwide. Founded in 2009, the… Continue reading Guest Post: Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV).
Do you know what it means to parent your transgender child? When my son came out as transgender, the first thing I had to learn was what the word transgender meant. I didn’t know there was a difference between gender and sexuality and how one was about who you are and the other you love.… Continue reading Learn What it Means to Parent Your Transgender Child
When my son Leo came out as transgender, I was blindsided by his news. Because I didn’t know that he had been hiding his true gender since middle school, I felt it came out of nowhere. I went to bed thinking I had a daughter, and the next day I woke up and had a… Continue reading Let Go Of the Guilt
Five months after my son came out as transgender, my grandfather died. In a year where I was trying to figure out which way was up, suddenly my world went dark. I was already thick in the midst of grief. At the time, I thought it was because I had lost my daughter. I would… Continue reading The Only Way Through Grief is to Move Forward
I remember the day my therapist told me the feeling I was experiencing was grief. It was a few months after Leo came out, and I was staring out her office window watching it snow. The compassion on her face made me cry in those early days, so I would take a break from looking… Continue reading Your Grief Is Not About Your Child Being Transgender
