CNN

What fuels transgender backlash?
By Madison Park, CNN
updated 10:16 AM EST, Fri September 30, 2011|Retrieved from the Internet on October 4, 2011 by SJ

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/27/too-young-to-know-your-gender/



(CNN) -- Tuesday's CNN.com story about transgender children and their families shed light on an emotional topic and provoked strong response.

"Transgender kids: Painful quest to be who they are" centered on identity, gender, health, parenting and child development. It's not unusual for a popular story on CNN.com to have hundreds or thousands of responses, but the overwhelmingly negative tone of Tuesday's comments raised the question about the root of the hostility. What exactly provoked such harsh opinions?

The discomfort toward transgender people comes from challenging conventions, said one academic who focuses on social attitudes and behavior.