I cried for most of the cold, January day when my son Leo came out as transgender. I didn’t know what I was crying about, exactly. At that time, I didn’t what it meant for Leo to be transgender. It was a word I barely understood and would have to look up to even comprehend… Continue reading You Shouldn’t Grieve in Front of Your Child
Several times a year, I ask my readers what their biggest struggle is with understanding or supporting transgender people. Then I open the conversation up to any other questions they might have. One reader recently asked if it was possible to tell if our children are gay (or lesbian or bisexual or transgender) before they… Continue reading Can You Tell Your Child is Gay Before They Come Out?
My oldest child, Ember, who is nonbinary and bisexual, decided last winter that they would use only gender-neutral pronouns and change their name. When they told me, we had a lot of conversations about it. Because I was trying to understand them better, I had a lot of questions. One of the questions I asked… Continue reading Coming Out Takes Time
Guest post by Andrew Trudeau It is my pleasure to introduce you to people whose lived experiences will help you to have a better understanding of what it is like to be transgender, or the parent of someone who is. I met Andrew Trudeau when he was in college, and now he is engaged to… Continue reading Guys and Dolls: A Coming Out Story
The day I learned my son was transgender, I felt unprepared to respond to the information I had been given. That morning, I spent a long time staring out the windows of our downstairs. I had an endless loop of questions running through my mind, but no answers. What does this mean? Did other people… Continue reading What I Wish Others Knew When My Son Came Out
When my son first came out as being transgender, there were a lot of things I didn’t know. What a binder was. How to administer testosterone. All the letters in LGBTQIA+. That transvestite is an out of date term, and many people in the LGBTQ+ community consider it offensive. In those first days, weeks, and… Continue reading What I Wish I Knew When My Son Came Out As Transgender
Merriam-Webster defines choose, a verb, as: “to select freely and after careful consideration.” The third definition is decide, “to make a final choice or judgment about.” I didn’t choose to be the parent of two LGBTQ+ sons. My oldest son is gay, and my youngest son is transgender, and I am their mother; because these… Continue reading Coming Out As An Ally
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
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
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?
