transgender

The Voice of a Mom…Part III

/ Lesa / 8 Comments

I have a secret.  It’s one that I’ve been holding onto for 44 years.  My younger cousins will be shocked to know this secret as they think I never did anything wrong as a child.  I’m not sure I’ve ever told anyone this secret.  It happened when I was four years old.  My mom and I were carving a pumpkin for Halloween.  My dad was on night shift so it was just the two of us.  We started the process and cut the top off of the pumpkin.  Next we scooped out the guts.  My mom needed to use the restroom and before doing so she left very strict instructions not to eat any of the guts that we just scooped out while she was gone. Well that made me very curious.  I waited until I was sure she was all the way up the stairs and in the bathroom before I proceeded to take the teeniest, tiniest, ittiest bittiest piece of pumpkin pulp…and popped it into my mouth.

She came back downstairs and we completed the carving of our pumpkin.  And then it happened.  I got very sick.  I mean really sick.  I don’t remember how many times I threw up, but it was a lot.  I can only remember one other time 44 years later that I was as sick as I was that night.  She asked me over and over again, “Lesa are you sure you didn’t eat any of that pumpkin?”  And each time, “No I didn’t eat any.”  Liar, liar pants on fire!  I have no idea if the pumpkin made me sick.  I mean…isn’t that where we get the pumpkin for pumpkin pie?  Maybe you have to cook it before it’s edible?  Could it have been my guilt from knowing I did something I wasn’t supposed to do that made me so sick?  I guess we will never know…unless there is a pumpkin expert out there that will indeed tell me that raw pumpkin will make you deathly ill (smile).

My mom was trying to protect me and in return she got a sleepless night with a very sick little one.  Protecting their children is something that is just a natural instinct that comes with motherhood.  I have lots of examples of her fierce love and protective nature over me and my sister.  This is just a small example and it’s a simple one.  But for many moms, protecting our young is one of our greatest tasks.  I think you will hear that in the “voice” of the next mom that is going to share with us. As you read her story about her transgender child, you will hear the protective mama bear coming out. And when you have a LGBTQ child, this task is even more daunting as so much of the world is against your child. (here is another article that will help explain that transgender is not a choice).

This mom has a child a bit further in the journey than the first mom who shared.  Again, a very personal story will be shared with you.  Please be respectful if you decide to comment.  She is another amazing mom with a beautiful daughter and I am so happy that I’ve gotten to know her and proud to call her my friend.

10177861_10203423196682319_2655426038570311619_nAnd now the voice of a mom part III:

I am doing this writing for my friend Lesa that asked me to speak on behalf of myself & my transdaughter. I am doing this in hopes that it opens people’s eyes & hearts.

First some background…Although our journey that led us to another daughter began in my eyes many years ago, it has really only just begun.  Let me explain…Drue is my 14-year-old daughter.  She was born as Andrew (a boy).  I was so excited to have a child and didn’t care of the sex as long as my child was happy and healthy as most moms I am sure would say.  Drue joins our family with 2 other sisters. My husband and I are pretty easy-going parents and do everything with our kids.   Never in the mom handbook or “What to expect with your toddler” did it ever have a chapter on raising a transgender child.  I am damn glad it didn’t.  I didn’t need some book telling me how to prepare myself for the amazing transformation my child was about to undertake in the future ahead.

We have been so blessed with this amazing, talented, fun-loving gift.  I could tell from a very young age that Drue was different from the other little boys.  He was always very nurturing, kind, loving & sweet, so artistic and loved to learn.  He would watch every move I made and try to mimic them. I thought, “Ok, this is normal because my oldest daughter did the same.”  He carried a blanket around everywhere and would put it on his head and pretended it was his long beautiful “girl” hair.  He would wear my heels around the house and even outside on the concrete to hear them on the sidewalk.  I told myself, “What kids don’t do that?”

At around age three, Drue would play with toys that I thought were enjoyable “boy” toys, but he never seemed happy when doing so.  My oldest daughter had Barbie dolls all over the house.  One day Drue picked a Barbie up and an enormous smile filled his face…one that I haven’t ever quite seen. It was a different kind of happy.  Drue joyfully played with that doll endlessly and Barbie went everywhere with us

When we went to the store, he always chose the “girl” aisle of toys and I thought “Ok, so what…it’s just toys.” I would try to take him and almost force him to pick out “boy” toys.  Sometimes, unwillingly, I could tell he would just pick one only to satisfy me.  Finally I said to myself, “That’s it.  It is plain to see that girl toys make my child happy.”  And if he is happy so am I.  Parenting sometimes involves compromising.  You learn this pretty early.

Several years of pain and suffering inside his own head trying to figure out who he was and where he belongs really took a toll on his life.  At around 4th or 5th grade, he was bullied in school and begged me to remove him and home school him. It got to the point that he asked me to take him to the hospital for help and even said to his older sister I just don’t want to wake up. I knew at that moment I would do anything I had to do to make sure I didn’t lose my child.

After years of therapy and loving support, our child finally figured out who he was and where in this world he belonged. Andrew was always a girl trapped in a boy’s body.  It was so clear now. There is no doubt this is how our child was born.  I brought this child into this world and I made a promise to love and protect this child no matter what life brings. I told her we will make it work. We will do whatever we need to do and that she had mine and her dad’s support.  As I was saying this out loud to her, I meant every word… I really did.  I just didn’t know if I really could follow through with that.  As a mom, we always fear for our children’s safety.  This was so out of my control that I really didn’t know if I always could protect her but I know I will do my best.

As a parent I never felt a loss of a son. My child was always there…just in a different body.  I love my child for the person she is and the heart that she has.

Now for the questions that Lesa outlined:

1.  How do you know this isn’t just a phase?

A phase is a small part of life that someone can go through, but it’s not followed through with for a very long period of time.  It’s kind of like when someone changes their hair color all the time to keep up with the new “phase”.  You know it’s not a phase when it has always been there and showed up in many different ways.  When I hear people say that this “lifestyle” is a choice it burns me up inside.  No person, especially a child, would ever choose this life. It is a life full of questioning, wondering, re-building. It’s full of bullying, harassment, depression, drugs and sometimes suicide.  I wish people could understand that these are precious children full of a ton of love that are simply born in the wrong body.

2.  Are you hurting your child by giving them hormones or puberty blockers? Should you wait until they        are older?

The answer for my child’s situation is absolutely positively without a doubt NO!!  It would actually harm my child to not have blockers or start on hormones.  My daughter received a puberty blocker at age 13.  This is all a part of saving her life. So along with doctors who agreed it was time to start, the puberty blocking process began. The reason it’s so important is if you can only try to imagine being born a woman and growing a beard…no woman wants that.  Well that’s horrific to my trans daughter. This process stops facial hair, Adams apple, and voice deepening etc…   For our daughter to survive this had to be done.  In a few short months, she will start hormone therapy so she can feel more and more like a young lady as her other girlfriends do.

3.  Aren’t you saying God made a mistake?

God doesn’t create junk or mistakes.  God loves all.  This child was NO mistake. This child is one of the absolute greatest gifts in not just my life but everyone she meets. She loves deeply with no judgment on anybody.  Frankly, I feel that more of us could learn from her.  I firmly believe she was brought into my life to teach pure love & acceptance.   If we say God made a mistake, then that’s passing judgment and how can we do that as Gods children?  Are handicap children mistakes? Are drug addicted born babies mistakes? No and neither is a child that was born in the wrong body.

4.  What’s the big deal with the bathroom?

This is a touchy question and it’s been a battle that I hate arguing about.  No person understands what it’s like to walk in the shoes of our transgender children.  The bathroom and locker room is a very scary place for my child.  My child has changed clothes for gym and uses the toilet in the nurse’s office for 2 years now. The nerves and anxiety kick in and its tears and so many fears about what someone is going to say next. The funny part is when we go into a bathroom…we are going in there behind a door to use the toilet. We are not standing there to check people out. Hate to break it to everyone also but transgender people have used the restrooms for decades and guess what?? Nobody’s ever known.  They are human beings like us and they deserve to share the same rights we all have.

In ending, this is definitely not the life I pictured having, but I honestly can’t imagine it any other way.  I am the blessed one because I get to see life through Drue’s eyes.  She wants to try to better this world and I will continue to do so for her and many others.

I recently asked her if she wanted the pictures removed off the wall of her past…the old “Andrew” photos.   She said no because it was all part of who she is and the journey we are on. I couldn’t be more proud of her.  She is a pure loving child that I know is exactly where she is supposed to be in life.

Thanks for listening with open ears and I hope you have an open heart now as well if you didn’t before.

Lesa here:  Thanks once again for taking the time to read another mom’s journey.  I think it helps us to understand (as best we can) what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes.  I also think it is an act of love to step outside of ourselves to try to gain an understanding of something before we have a strong opinion on it.  I love this mom and her family and I would protect her “cubs” as if they were my very own.

Because love matters…

The Voice of a Mom…Part II

/ Lesa / 9 Comments

As most kids, when my sister and I were little we would get very excited when we would hear the ice cream truck music close by.  We would quickly run in the house jumping up and down begging for some money so we could get back outside to flag the truck down.  We would run down to the curb and wave our arms frantically to get the drivers attention.  It was a sad day when you didn’t make it out there in time to catch his attention.  One of these occasions caused my sister great angst.  We perused the side of the truck and carefully picked out what we wanted to order.  We stood in line and waited our turn trying to be patient.  When it was my sister’s turn, the man behind the counter loudly proclaimed, “And what can I get for you young man?”  My sister immediately burst into tears and quickly ran up the steps to our house without any ice cream.

It was an honest mistake.  She was about 6 years old at the time with short hair, a simple t-shirt and shorts.  But this mistake totally devastated her.  Being on this journey, I think of that story often.  Even though I don’t have a transgender child, I am friends with some transgender people and I know many moms of transgender children.  I can’t imagine how hard it is for them to deal with this on a daily basis…people seeing them as a different gender then how they see themselves.

As promised, I have a guest today who is going to share a very personal part of her family’s journey.  She has the youngest child out of the three moms that will be sharing with us.   She is an amazing mom with a beautiful little girl and I am proud to know her and glad that she considers me a friend.   I ask that you be respectful if you decide to comment.  (to learn some scientific information about what transgender means – here is an article that you might find helpful).

10177861_10203423196682319_2655426038570311619_nAnd now the voice of a mom part II:

Hi, 
My dear friend Lesa asked me to share some of my experiences as a parent to a transgender
child, since she has been getting some questions and would like to share as much 
information as possible.  She provided specific questions that she’s been getting.  These 
questions are all valid and are honestly questions that I’ve asked myself and professionals.  I 
also want to thank you for reading this.  It means that you must be open enough to want to 
learn about a topic that is hard to understand if you aren’t living it firsthand, and I appreciate 
that.  First, it probably makes the most sense to begin by giving a brief synopsis of my family’s 
story. 
 
I am a mom to a six (and a half – she would want me to add) year old transgender girl, which 
means born anatomically male, identifies as female in gender.  I’m also married to a 
wonderful husband, have three step-children who I adore, have a Master’s degree and work 
full time in a helping profession.  When my daughter was born, she was assigned male at 
birth.  I was ecstatic to have a little boy.  He was perfect, healthy and loving – what I often 
referred to as an “easy baby.”  I loved everything about being a mom.  At age three (some 
examples were as early as two), when he was able to begin expressing himself verbally more 
clearly, he would often express a desire for more feminine things.  He wanted to wear female 
clothes, went straight to the girls side of the Stride Rite shoe store and the ‘girls’ toy aisle, 
insisted on dressing as a female character for Halloween, and played with dolls.  At the time, I 
wrote this off as being a phase, knowing that gender is often explored pretty broadly during 
this age.  In hindsight I knew something was different about my child even then.  I remember 
having a sinking feeling every time he told me he wanted to wear a dress or nail polish, and I 
felt guilty when I firmly told him he could not dress as a girl for Halloween, but I was trying to 
(naively) guide him in the “right” direction.   
 
By age four these expressions had become more common.  Because of the constant 
requests to paint his nails, wear dresses and perfume, play with dolls, etc, on occasion we 
allowed this in the house.  He would say he wished I would let him be the girl that he was.  My 
sweet little boy started to become more introverted and seemed more sad.  At preschool he 
preferred to play house and only played with other little girls.  Even though I made him dress 
as a boy, he always insisted upon wearing one or two subtle feminine items like a scarf or 
toenail polish.  I would occasionally receive comments from others about how feminine by 
child was.  At this point I deduced that my child would likely be gay, and started preparing 
myself for this.   
 
Almost to the day of his fifth birthday, the mild requests about his gender identity became 
insistent, persistent and consistent statements that he was, in fact, a girl.  He started acting 
out in preschool.  He would cry for over an hour and beg not to go out of the house unless he 
could go as the girl that he was.  One evening he told me that I should have named him 
“sadness” because he was sad “all the time.”  We started looking for counselors.  One night 
soon after, at five years old, my child – who has generally lived a pretty charmed life – told me 
that if I didn’t allow him to be the girl that he was, he wanted to kill himself.  To this day I don’t 
know how my sweet little five year old even knew those words, or how she could know herself 
so well or express herself so clearly, but I knew this wasn’t going away.  I didn’t know what to 
do except hug *her* and say okay, I’m listening, and we will figure this out together.   
 
Once she made that statement my world turned upside down.  I could no longer continue to 
live in denial about what was happening.  I had a lot to learn and a lot of people to talk to, and 
fast.  The next morning I met with the owner of the preschool, who said they had suspected 
she was transgender for some time now.  I took her that night and bought her her first dress. 
I have never seen her happier.  Words can’t express the happiness she expressed over this. 
The more parents of transgender/gender fluid children I talked with, the more I heard the 
same story we were living.   After gaining a wealth of information we started using female 
pronouns and it was glaringly obvious that this was the right thing to do. Over the following 
months we established a relationship with a therapist who has supported our path, and I 
made it my other full time job to learn everything I could about this topic.  I attended support 
groups in three counties as well as gender conferences.  I talked to so many people with 
either personal or professional experience on the issue.  I read everything I could get my 
hands on.  I cried…wept at times.  I lost countless hours of sleep, and 30 pounds since I could 
hardly eat.  But every single problem we encountered with my daughter immediately 
dissipated once we allowed her to socially transition – to live as the girl that she is, or as the 
gender she identifies with. 
 
She now lives as the female that she is.  She is excelling at school.  She laughs when I 
remind her that she once asked to be called “sadness”, and often remarks how happy she is 
and how much she loves her life. I could go on and on about ways this difficult decision has 
ended up bettering her life, but there isn’t nearly enough time.   
 
So, onto the questions Lesa outlined: 
 
1.    How do you know it’s not a phase? 
            Even though I tried to give some general examples above, it’s very difficult to put into 
words all of the ways it is abundantly clear that my daughter’s gender is innate, versus a 
phase or a result of “nurture versus nature.”  I would like to pose the question to you as the 
reader:  When did you know you were a male or female?  For me, I always knew.  It takes no 
thought, I just know.  I am not overly “girly”, like my daughter.  I don’t wear dresses often or 
much makeup, but I know innately that I’m female.  My daughter would tell you that she’s 
known she is female since birth.  This never changes.  Even the most subtle of details are 
consistent.  She naturally gravitates toward other girls for play.  She always chooses the 
female avatar when playing games.  She is happy and thriving being able to live as her true 
self, and she’s not hurting anyone by doing so.  I’ve talked to families who tried to force their 
child to live in denial of their gender.  These children usually faced issues like depression, 
anxiety, self-injurious behavior, addiction and suicide.  Even though allowing people who are 
transgender to embrace who they are challenges us to be accepting of things we don’t 
understand, there is so much evidence that in doing so, these people thrive and become 
productive members of society.  I have attached a link to a recent research study, in which my
daughter is a participant, that shows the benefits of allowing these children to live as their 
identified gender versus natal sex.  Also, I have learned that it is very common for 
transgender people to begin expressing their gender identity as early as they can start talking, 
so this is not uncommon.  The overwhelming majority of people, including myself, were taught 
very young that gender and natal sex are one and the same.  Many people would swear this 
to be as true as the earth is round.  I now know that this is not true.  Gender and natal sex are 
two different things.  Usually they match, but in relatively rare instances they don’t.   
 
2.    Aren’t you hurting your child by giving them hormones?  Shouldn’t you wait until they’re 
older? 
             I am going to defer to my other friends with older children for this question.  I am 
learning to take things one step at a time with this process, so we still have multiple years 
until we address this.  I can say that we plan to see a renowned endocrinologist when my 
daughter turns seven.  Not to start any type of medication, but because we want to establish 
a relationship with this doctor, and be as open and transparent as possible as we plan for the 
possibility of hormone blockers and hormones in the future.  This way the endocrinologist can 
get to know my daughter, give us any feedback she has, and make recommendations as 
appropriate.  I can also tell you that I know that the pain of living in a body you don’t feel 
matches your identity is tremendously more painful than anything else.  My daughter already 
asks when she will be able to have a baby, when she can “not have a penis anymore”, and 
generally expresses anxiety about having to develop in any way masculine.  She says these 
things and it still shocks me.  These aren’t thoughts I ever would have had as a child, yet 
what she says is textbook for transgender people. 
 
3.   What’s the big deal about the bathroom? 
            So, if you would again take a second to think about this for yourself:  If you’re a parent, 
and someone told you that your daughter had to use the boy’s bathroom, how would you 
feel?  For my daughter, the thought is so distressing that at times she would cry or refuse to 
go to the bathroom at all versus having to go with males. Transgender people have been 
painted in the media as men that dress up as women to get into the women’s bathroom.  This 
is just untrue.  I could go on and on with statistics about this issue, but I won’t bore you.  I will 
simply say that children are in more risk at school, church, and with family than they are 
sharing a bathroom with a transgender person.  This is a huge issue, and one that keeps me 
up at night.  My daughter looks, acts, and carries herself as the female that she is.  You 
wouldn’t even notice if you were in the girls bathroom with her.  If she had to go into a male 
bathroom, she would be mortified, likely mistreated, and cause more trouble than being 
allowed to simply use the bathroom that coincides with her gender.  Side note:  you likely 
have known transgender people in your life without actually realizing it.  They are so scared of 
being judged they often work very hard to fly under the radar, especially in the bathroom. 
 
4.  Aren’t you saying that God made a mistake? 
     This is the most difficult question for me to answer.  Short answer after a long, 
frustrated sigh: no. Long answer: I don’t believe there are mistakes in life.  As a person 
who is agnostic, I am very open to all possibilities, religious views, and am deeply 
spiritual.  What I am not open to is any person or doctrine who ascribes to judgment or 
mean, exclusionary behavior in the name of God.  I don’t think God makes mistakes, 
and I believe in life there are only lessons. Would you ask a person who had an autistic 
child if they were a mistake from God?  What about someone with birth defects or 
hermaphrodites?  Or cancer?  Are these mistakes from God?  There are certainly 
endless examples of things in this universe that we don’t fully understand, but denying 
their existence when you haven’t taken the time to learn, or because they aren’t like 
you, or because something is rare is unacceptable.  It saddens me that the people who 
scare me the most in this world, in regards to my transgender daughter, are those who 
are the most religious.  Isn’t that sad?  God is love, and I would hope to find shelter in 
people who follow God, but it’s often where I find the most heartache and judgment.  
Sometimes, when I need to make myself feel better about the turn our life has taken, I 
tell myself that my child is even closer to the likeness of God than most of us.  I’ve read 
that some cultures (like certain Native American cultures) celebrate and honor people 
who are gender variant.  I know our culture will likely not celebrate this anytime soon, 
but I wish it was more accepting of our differences.  I don’t doubt that God is divinely 
accepting.  My six year old recently asked me why God put her in “the wrong body.”  
I’m still figuring out the answer to that, still learning the lesson.  For now, I just 
reassured her that she is healthy, happy and that down the road there are ways we 
can correct the parts of her body that feel “wrong” right now.  She was content with that 
response and skipped away.   
Lesa here…thank you for taking the time to read this special post.  I have the utmost respect for this mom and all the moms I know that have LGBTQ children.  The road we travel is a hard one.  I love them all and I feel like their kids are my kids.  I would do anything for any one of them…and I love them all dearly.
Because love matters…

The Voice of a Mom…Part I

/ Lesa / 7 Comments

I love nature.  There is such a peace I feel when I’m out in the woods, on the beach, or just sitting on my deck surrounded by the tall trees that are behind my house.  If there is water involved, like a babbling brook or ocean waves that is an extra bonus (smile).

10177861_10203423196682319_2655426038570311619_nThis tree is in my back yard.  I know it is hard to tell by the picture, but it is indeed one tree.  And yes that is both white and pink flowers that you see gracing it’s branches.  I LOVE this tree.  It is so unique. It was here when we moved into our house 18 years ago so I’m not sure how it came into existence, but I am so happy that it ended up in my backyard.  In many ways, this tree reminds me of the journey I’ve been on the past several years.

On the one hand, it reminds me of my faith.  The branches on the tree that have the white flowers grow up towards the sky.  The branches that have the pink flowers grow outward and spread out as if they are reaching for something.  The white version of the tree is my connection to God while the pink version is my desire to reach out to others to share His love.  To me it’s also a symbol of my once rigid belief system entangled with my quest to let God out of the box.

When I look at this tree, I also see the struggle of my son.  He tried to stay on a path that he thought was required of him. In doing so, he had to deny who he really was inside.  He tried desperately to stay on that path while on the inside he felt his true self reaching out trying to break off of the path that was never meant for him.  I see the part of the tree that grows upward and has the white flowers as the path, while the pink side is him reaching out to be himself.

I also can’t help but think of the transgender people I’ve met when I look at my tree.  Born as one gender while truly another. My tree is two trees intertwined into one.

If you’ve read some of my other posts, you know that things have gotten very heated towards transgender individuals.  The bill that was passed in NC and the whole Target bathroom announcement has caused some pretty ugly banter on social media.  What really surprises me is that some of these people who have the loudest voices don’t even know a transgender person.  Sadly this recent activity has caused suicide hotline calls to increase with the incidence of calls from transgender individuals doubling.

As I’ve shared my personal journey, I’ve tried to share the journey of others that I have met along the way.  I try to speak on their behalf and not speak for them, but that is really difficult.  As I’ve tried to relay what I’ve learned, it’s been in my voice.  It is so much better to hear it from the person who has experienced it themselves.  So I think this is the perfect time to hear from some other voices.  Voices that know first hand what it’s like to have a transgender child.  I have three amazing moms who have agreed to be a guest on my blog and share a part of their journey.  I know all of these moms personally.  I have witnessed some of their struggles first hand.  I’ve seen the pain of their children through their eyes.

I will be posting one story a week beginning next week and I will use the picture of my tree as the series picture since it is my symbol of this journey.  I’m excited for you to meet these moms through their written words.  It gives you a chance to step into their shoes.  To me, being willing to learn about another person’s story is an act of love.

And love matters…

 

The face of courage…

/ Lesa / 17 Comments

In the weeks following speaking at church, people have been telling me that I am brave…that it took a lot of courage to do what I did.  I appreciate their kind words.  It would have been much harder to get up there if I didn’t have so many people praying for me.  I know that sounds cliché, but it’s true.  I really felt like Jesus was sitting on that stage with me.  It gave me the strength to share what I did.  The harder part for me has been the aftermath.  I knew it would be difficult…living in the tension of wondering what people are thinking of me.  The tension of worrying about people being upset and possibly leaving my church…just for having the conversation.  I know that discussions are taking place, but I don’t know the content of those discussions.  I knew all of this going into that Sunday morning, but courage doesn’t mean things will be easy.

Courage looks different depending on the circumstances:

The little girl who is afraid of water, but trusts her dad and leaps into the pool into his arms…has courage.

The little boy who rides his bike without the training wheels for the first time…has courage.

The child who raises their hand in class to answer a question…has courage.

The parent who teaches their child how to drive…has courage…can I get an AMEN (smile).

The recovering addict who swings their legs over the edge of their bed in the morning and faces the day sober…has courage.

The soldier who defends our country…has courage.

The family who waits for their soldier to come home…has courage.

There are many courageous things that people do every day.

I didn’t want to write about this topic.  I felt there had already been a plethora of discussion about it already.  You would have to be living under a rock to not have heard all the verbiage about Caitlyn Jenner recently. Especially when she received the Arthur Ashe award for courage.  Many were up in arms about her receiving such an award.  I like the saying…’Comparison is the thief of joy,’ but I think comparison is the thief of a lot of things.  I don’t think anyone has the right to tell someone they aren’t courageous just because their courage looks different then someone else’s. My guess is that the people who had a problem with her getting the award have never known a transgender person…or the parent of a transgender person. They’ve never buried a transgender child or held vigils at a hospital bed because someone tried to murder them. How would they know what any of them have gone through? How can they judge their courage?

I felt prompted to write about this when I first saw the courage comparisons that were being posted.  I ignored it.  Like I said…so many people had already written about it.  Unfortunately, I still see the jokes on FB about Caitlyn Jenner.  And I guess the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back…was my birthday.  On July 23rd, a transgender woman was murdered…the eleventh this year.  She was 66 years old and was stabbed to death…left for dead in the street.  So you see, the meme’s that you post on FB about Caitlyn Jenner and others make a difference…in a bad way.  They contribute to the misunderstanding of other human lives.  They portray that person themselves as a joke…and I think that is dangerous.

So whether you agree with the person or not…think about what you post.  Think about who may see that post.  The suicide rate among transgender teens is staggering.  Please don’t contribute to their pain.  Think of what it might be like to walk in their shoes…

 

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Love each other because love matters…but how we love matters even more.

 

That’s good enough…

/ Lesa / Leave a comment

Have you ever been accused of something you didn’t do?  It’s happened to me…more times than I can count. From about the time I was five, until I was ten, I was best friends with my mom’s best friend’s daughter (did you get that…it’s a little confusing).  In the beginning of our friendship, things were good.  But as we got older, things began to change.  It became somewhat of a competition, but not one that I initiated.  As my friend and I hit school age, there were some differences becoming apparent with us.  I was skinny as a rail, and she struggled with her weight.  I got good grades in school and she did not.  I was popular…she not so much.  Jealousy began to rear its ugly head. There were many times that she and her brother would get into mischief and when things were discovered they always blamed it on me. There mad womanwere many days when my friend’s mom would get right in my face and yell at me…telling me that I was going to be responsible paying for the latest thing that her kids had broken.

Now that I have kids, I can appreciate how difficult and awkward this must have been for my mom since our mom’s were best friends.  My mom did the best she could to defuse the situations.  She even switched me from public to private school without telling her friend (there were other reasons for this switch as well, but she thought this might be a good break) only to have her daughter switched to the same school.  My friend became very possessive of me and would be really mean to me for having other friends. Things came to a head when I was in the fifth grade.  I had borrowed a book from the library at school.  I don’t remember what book it was, but I do remember it was a big book.  The kind that has several books published in one source.  When it came time to return the book, I couldn’t find it.  I knew for sure I had left it in my desk, but it was gone.  My parents and I searched my house to no avail and I eventually had to pay for it.  I remember it being a lot of money and I was banned from borrowing any more books from the school library for the rest of the year.

One day my mom and I were visiting with my friend and her mom.  I forget how it happened, but we discovered the book hidden in their house.  My friend had stolen it from my desk to get me in trouble.  My mom realized that this was getting serious and drastic measures were taken.  And when I say drastic, I mean drastic. Since we were neighbors, there was no real way to get me away from this girl…not to mention our mom’s being best friends part.  So, my parents put our house up for sale.  Yep…they sold our house.  AND, I changed schools.  But this time, we did it in secret.  It was so hard for me.  I knew at the end of the school year that I was leaving, but I wasn’t allowed to tell any of my friends.  The school actually called the following year to see why I wasn’t at school on the first day. Luckily my friend didn’t follow me this time.  I think they got the hint.  I’m not sure how much contact my mom had with her best friend after that happened, but I’m pretty sure all ties were cut.  It just wasn’t worth it and I think she realized at that point that I wasn’t exaggerating about how I was being treated there.

So, why am I talking about being accused of something I didn’t do?  There was some talk in the media this past week about some states dealing with bathroom laws concerning transgender individuals.  Now, I will admit I don’t know a lot about being transgender.  I have met some mom’s who have transgender children over the past year, but I certainly don’t have first hand experience.  I also don’t mean to imply that what I describe from my childhood above compares in any way to how transgender people feel when reactions to this bill come up.  It is just a small glimpse on my part into how they must feel being accused of something that they have no intention of doing.  I have noticed, and the media confirmed it this week, that every time this issue comes up (transgender individuals being able to use restrooms that they identify with) the topic of child predators comes up.  Comments that people make imply that transgender people have an agenda of molesting children in restrooms.  They may not mean to imply this, but it rings loudly to me so I’m sure it does to the transgender community as well.  Just so you know…transgender people aren’t lurking in the shadows…waiting for each state to pass a law allowing them to use restrooms of the opposite sex so they can molest children.  I mean really??  I’m pretty sure actual child predators aren’t biding time until such laws happen as well.

The definition of transgender is this:

Transgender is the state of one’s gender identity or gender expression not matching one’s assigned sex. Transgender is independent of sexual orientation; transgender people may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, etc; some may consider conventional sexual orientation labels inadequate or inapplicable to them.

Now I understand wanting to protect children.  As a matter of fact, I never let my children go into public restrooms alone when they were little.  Period.  Problem solved.  A transgender individual who is going to use a restroom will use the restroom they are most comfortable using.  So, a transgender male to female will use the women’s restroom, and a transgender female to male will use the men’s restroom.  Chances are they will look like that gender when they use the restroom.  So a young girl will probably not see a man come in the girls restroom.  I can’t imagine how it feels to be labeled as a child molester when all you want to do is use the rest room.  As a matter of fact, transgender people are much more likely to be violated and have been attacked when out in public.

This only scratches the surface of this issue.  It is a complicated one.  But trust me when I say that transgender individuals go through a lot of turmoil in their life just trying to be who they feel God created them to be.  I don’t know enough about the bills trying to be passed to say that they are the best way to handle this situation.  I do feel, however, that everyone should have rights.  At the very least, let’s change the way we talk about issues like this so that we don’t abuse the people who are in these situations.

I don’t have personal experience with a transgender child, but Debi Jackson does and she does a great job of explaining it here:

I just had to say something about this…even though I don’t have personal experience.  My heart breaks for individuals who have to go through this because it’s been described as being trapped in the wrong body.  Instead of being judged by people who have no real knowledge about what they go through, they deserve our love and understanding…because love matters…to everyone…no matter what.

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