Op-ed: In the Age of Clementi and King, Models of Pride More Important Than Ever
BY Teresa Sitz and Betsy Hanger
October 12 2012 3:38 PM ET
http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/commentary/2012/10/12/oped-age-clementi-and-king-models-pride-more-important-everBetsy: My husband and I are blessed to have two queer children. Our daughter came out as lesbian when she was in college. Though she was bullied in junior high school, as we look back, her sexual orientation didn't seem at the root of it. Since she dated boys in high school, we were surprised when she told us. That surprise was mild compared to what we felt when our second child came out as a transgender boy.
Before he told us at age 14, we didn't have a clue that he had always felt like a boy in a girl's body. (A realist, by second grade he stopped telling his teachers that he wanted to be a boy when he grew up.) But our son had spent two years researching options, corresponding with other trans teens on the Internet, and gaining strength in his convictions. The research was clear: this is not a "choice" but a hard-wired part of who he is, just like if he'd been born left-handed.
So we followed his lead. First he began telling people at school, followed by a legal name change, male hormones, and surgery to remove his breasts shortly before his 18th birthday. It was sometimes frightening: we were helping him take medical steps that we trusted would be lifelong good choices. It was painful when some members of our extended family didn't understand that we were being good parents by trusting that he knew what was best for him.
