OCTOBER 21, 2011 12:25PM
The Summer of Pronouns
GirlyBoyMama
http://open.salon.com/blog/girlyboymama/2011/10/21/the_summer_of_pronounsThis past summer, we enrolled Alex in a local parks and rec summer day camp program. As a girl.
While this may seem for many to be either follow a natural course or even maybe not be a very big deal, it represented a big leap for her and for our family. It meant that she was ready for the world to acknowledge her as a girl. With female pronouns and a (relatively) female name. She was ready to emerge and blossom into the girl she was born to be. But what did that really look like? What did that mean? We knew that although this is her journey, as her support system, we understood that it would probably mean choppy waters ahead at least for us.
Several months before the first day of camp, I had contacted the camp director to discuss our situation. I explained that at Alex's school, she uses a nurse's bathroom. I also explained that while she used her birth name and some kids at the program might know her by that name and the male pronoun, Alex wanted people to use her new pronoun ("she" and "her") and her affirmed name (i.e. Alex). The camp director was very agreeable and assured us they could accommodate us. The thought that kept running through my head was: This is too easy. Could this be too good to be true?
