Introducing Our Parents' Generation To Transgender Children Can Be Hard But Rewa

[Shana A]

Wayne Maines
Father, storyteller, and advocate for change

Introducing Our Parents' Generation To Transgender Children Can Be Hard But Rewarding
Posted: 05/16/2012 11:22 am

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wayne-maines/transgender-children_b_1519748.html

I continued to say that it seems like over the years, I have had to defend presidents from both sides of the aisle. I apologized for my long-winded story and said, "My point is that we must always respect the position of our President and Commander-in-Chief and we need to teach our children to do the same. I pointed to my son on the other side of the lacrosse field and said, "When my son was 10 he came home from school and told me he hated President Bush. I abruptly said, "What did you say?" He looked up at me and said, "I hate George Bush because he started the war." I said, "Listen, you cannot ever say you hate the President. He is our President and Commander-in-Chief. You can say you disagree with his policies, but you cannot say you hate him." My little boy looked up at me, scared and looking a bit puzzled because of my harsh tone. I was on edge because I had just come from a school meeting to address the bullying and harassment that his sister was being subject to at school. I said, "Hate is such a strong word, lets not use the word hate in our family." The grandfather looked at me with a smile, extended his hand and said "you're a good dad." I shook his hand and said, "There is another reason why I needed to teach my son about hate at such a young age. You see, he has a twin sister who is transgender. She was born as a boy, but is a girl trapped in a boy's body. You may not understand this, but maybe knowing how much I love my children, my family and my country will help you begin to understand that what I am saying is true. My son has spent most of his life worrying and protecting his sister from harm. He has experienced a great deal of pain that could have easily made him hate many of the leaders in his school and our state but he does not." I paused to let what I said sink in.