Media Misrepresents Transgender Children in Colorado Girl Scouts Coverage
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 - 4:21pm
by Aaron McQuade, GLAAD's Director of News and Field Media
http://www.glaad.org/blog/media-misrepresents-transgender-children-colorado-girl-scouts-coverageOn its face, the story of a trangender girl in Colorado who was initially rejected, but then welcomed, by the state chapter of the Girl Scouts is a celebratory one. Studies have shown us that transgender people are among the most marginalized groups in the country (if not THE most), so to see this child expressing herself, seeking to join a venerable institution like the Girl Scouts, and eventually being accepted was an incredibly positive sign, and would have served as a perfect happy ending to this story – if some in the media had let it.
[...]
This position is backed up 100% by a statement from the American Psychological Association, which tells parents and educators of young people who begin to express their gender identity "in a non-conforming way" to let them be who they are:
"It is not helpful to force the child to act in a more gender-conforming way."
