While I didn’t understand what being transgender meant when my son Leo came out, I supported him immediately. I knew that members of the LGBTQ+ community who had supportive family members thrived compared to those who did not. Besides, whatever I felt about Leo being transgender, I needed to work out on my own. What… Continue reading When Your Partner or Spouse is Unsupportive of Your Child
My son Leo came out as transgender at the age of eighteen-and-a-half. For all those years, my brain and mouth associated one name and set of pronouns with my child. I used that name and set of pronouns dozens and dozens of times a day. Then suddenly, overnight, I had to change to a new… Continue reading When Your Family Won’t Use Your Child’s Name or Pronouns
When your child comes out as transgender, they begin a transition to the person they have always been. In some ways, your family begins a transition too. As a parent, however, you are still the same person. Nothing about you changed the day your child came out. For sure, you have a lot of emotions… Continue reading When You Struggle to Relate to Other Parents
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
Katherine Locke’s What Are Your Words is a colorful and easy to understand book about pronouns. This preschool/early elementary grade picture book features Ari and their Uncle Lior. Every time Uncle Lior comes to visit, Ari has different words to describe themself. Sometimes their words are he/him, and sometimes they are she/hers. “My pronouns are… Continue reading Review: What Are Your Words? by Katherine Locke
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).
