Who’s that Girl?

October 25, 2010

Fridays my kids and I fight big-city, weekend traffic to make pilgrimages to suburban malls. Our adopted gay-uncle, (also decidedly not neuro-typical) and the kids aren’t impressed by shopping venues available via public transit. My tweenage, gender-nonconforming son, worships retail. Playing chauffeur to both kids, I end up picking up Oscar and uncle on a [...]

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The Skirtless Boy

September 28, 2010

Seventh Grade. In our K-8, the seventh graders are upstairs in their own hallway; some of these kids are pushing six-feet tall. Many of the girls look ready to reproduce. I’m not noticing any facial hair on the boys to speak of; maybe the lack of male hormones in commercial  milk explains that. For the [...]

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The New Normal

September 7, 2010

In my Slate piece, I misused the word normal, using a dictionary definition which left out the words cultural importance. I referred to “Parents who preferred a happy child to a normal one.” In rewriting the piece for syndication (which seems like it isn’t going to happen) I struggled to fix the sentence, and came [...]

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My Slate Piece is Online

August 3, 2010

My Slate piece is now on-line. I would like to apologize profusely to Johnny Weir for my casual and wrong comment on his identity which I had read somewhere, but not double-checked. He is a wonderful human being, his communication with our children was perfect, compassionate, affirming. I am ashamed to have made any presumptions [...]

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Camp I Am 2010 Piece coming to Slate…

July 13, 2010

My piece in Slate about this year’s Camp I Am for gender non-conforming kids and their families has been submitted; don’t know when it will appear, but I’ll post and tweet about it when it’s on-line. It was a great weekend. Oscar was great in the fashion and talent shows. The zip-line experience was wild. [...]

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Passing Time

June 22, 2010

Eleven. The two little femme children at our bus stop look decided different from each other now; one is already showing substantial curves, bra straps peeking out around the edges of her tank top shoulder straps; my child, now taller though a full year younger, is all angles, sharp lines, harder jaw, bony chest, skinny [...]

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Happy Father’s Day

June 20, 2010

Happy father’s day, to all fathers who get it, and to all father’s who don’t, and to all fathers who struggle to accept, and to all fathers who become women, to all gay fathers, to all straight fathers. Any father who would like to contact me, seek support, cry on my shoulder, scream at someone [...]

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Still Bemused by the Boy in the Skirt

June 9, 2010

Warm and breezy again, Oscar just picked out a new skirt at Target, which he is wearing with a new, beloved, Orange Crush t-shirt. The skirt has purple flowers on it, and he is wearing it with neon pink leggings I bought him at Claire’s. I say, in my best Tim Gun voice, “I think [...]

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Letter to a Concerned Parent of a Gender Variant Six-Year-Old

April 9, 2010

A concerned parent on an email list recently asked the list for advice on their young boy who likes girl things. This happens every few weeks, and I write the letter over and over again in various ways. It goes something like this: Dear Parent, You should tell your young son that there are many [...]

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Fearing For Your Kids or Fearing your Kids? We’re all Gay Now.

March 25, 2010

From LGBTQ Nation: Derrick Martin (left) and boyfriend/prom date Richard Goodman A Georgia teen has been kicked-out of his family’s home after going public on his plans to attend his high school prom with his boyfriend. In the town of Cochran, GA, 18 year-old Derrick Martin won the approval of his school to take his [...]

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