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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Let Constance Go to the Prom

March 11, 2010

A Mississippi high-school’s decision to cancel its prom to prevent the attendance of a lesbian couple may have the additional effect of endangering the student in questions safety. From Seattle’s The Stranger: The school told Constance McMillen, an 18-year-old senior, that she couldn’t bring a female date, couldn’t arrive with another girl, couldn’t wear a [...]

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My Apology to Michael McGough: Ghandi and the Jews

March 11, 2010

Dear Mr. McGough, I’m sorry about my post on your recent article in the LA Times. I could have read your piece in a positive light, but I didn’t. Sometimes supportive parents see slights when they are not there. I had no right to be as testy as I was in my little rant; all [...]

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When the Girliest of Girls Turn Out To Be Men

March 4, 2010

I belong to several wonderful, but different, on-line communities. Transfamily and TYFA, and the CNMC parent group (see side bars). Parents seem to be self-selecting, with many of the parents of gender variant but not transgender children ending up in one group, and the parents of transgender kids ending up in the others. In many [...]

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Responding to Michael McGough’s, Psychiatrists, ‘Sissies,’ and the Schoolyard

February 24, 2010

Michael McGough questions the wisdom of supportive parenting in Psychiatrists, ‘Sissies’ and the Schoolyard from the LA Times: … this connection informs a program at a Washington, D.C., children’s hospital that helps parents accept  their “gender-variant” kids. A brochure for the program advises parents that although most of these boys will be gay, many will “grow up to [...]

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When He Was Very Young

February 23, 2010

How much information is too much information for a child? All parents struggle with the particulars. When do you tell your kids about the messy reality of birth? The mechanics of sex? Homosexuality? Transgender? Death? War? The Holocaust? Serial killers? 911? The Bomb? Sarah Palin? If you read the parenting experts, they’ll tell you that [...]

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Consequences for Bullies

February 22, 2010

If you grew up in the 60s and 70s, you send your kids to school with a vague sense of unease. Sure, Kindergarten looks gentle and fun, but there are those bigger kids barreling through the hallways. If you got to a K-8, the eight graders look ready to go to war or bear children. [...]

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Sexual Harassment. On The Bus

January 27, 2010

“I hate that girl! She’s evil!” Eleven year old Oscar cascades down the bus steps followed by his brother George. A neighbor girl and her brother also emerge, and they confer briefly out of earshot. Kids in winter coats push through the knot of us standing there and stream away in all directions. ‘I HATE [...]

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Wearing His Mother’s Shoes

January 18, 2010

Oscar has shot up in that pre-adolescent growth spurt, now a foot taller than his childhood friend, Rachel. His mom’s shoes are casual, unisex; it’s not the gender but the size I’m talking about here, for a change. Oscar is just growing up. At 11, Oscar has trimmed his waist length, dirty blond hair to [...]

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New Study Confirms Supportive Parenting Does Not Hurt Gender Non-Conforming Children

January 12, 2010

I’ve had the opportunity to read a draft of a recent study by Hill, D.B., Menvielle, E., Sica, K.M., &  Johnson, A. (2010), of children in different therapeutic environments published in The Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy shows that supportive / accepting parenting is associated with lower rates of mental illness. From the abstract: When [...]

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