CNN

Parents urged to support, safeguard children as they explore gender

By Phil Gast, CNN | updated 2:51 PM EST, Sun October 30, 2011

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/29/health/gender-children/


(CNN) -- Transgender children and adults are "people who are being assigned one gender but affirm that they are the other," said Diane Ehrensaft, a San Francisco Bay Area developmental and clinical psychologist and author of "Gender Born, Gender Made."

Parents need to be careful not to rush to a diagnosis and predict a child's eventual sexual orientation or gender identity, experts said. For example, a child dressed in drag may be depressed and looking for attention -- but not have a gender issue.