If there is one small positive in the attack on transgender people by the Trump administration, it is that more stories of trans kids are appearing in mainstream as well as LGBTQ media outlets. We owe it to those children to read their stories and ensure that our society is welcoming to them—but we also need to remember and support other trans lives.
- In the Dallas News, Frank and Rachel Gonzales of Texas speak about their transgender daughter, and the impact of a Texas bill that would prohibit transgender people from using the bathroom matching their gender identity in public schools and government buildings, as well as the Trump administration’s removal of federal protections for transgender students.
- CNN has highlighted even more stories of trans kids from Texas.
- ABC affiliate WRIC profiles the Hall family of Glen Allen, Virginia, which includes trans teen Piper.
- The New York Times profiles the Ford family of Washington, D.C., who are raising a trans daughter and recently appeared in the National Geographic documentary Gender Revolution.
- Amber Leventry writes at Parent.co about her twins, Ben and Ryan, Ryan’s transition to female, and the relationship between the siblings.
- Slate interviews podcasters Jesse and Theresa Thorn who are parenting a five-year-old gender-nonconforming child.
- U.A. Nigro tells us at Transgender Universe about when her wife came out as transgender to their kids, and how they navigated her transition as a family.
- Mom Jen Aulwes of Minneapolis writes of her trans daughter Henry in a piece for the Washington Post. She says, optimistically:
Most people in our lives, people all across the political spectrum, had never met a trans person before they met Henry. But after they spend a little time with her, learn a little more about her, not a single one would insist she use the boys’ bathroom.
I would welcome Trump if he wanted to visit Minneapolis and meet Henry. He’d probably get a kick out of her “big league” My Little Pony collection. After he met her, I can’t imagine he would think she belongs in the boys’ bathroom, either.
- Katelyn Burns, a trans woman who transitioned after she grew up, writes at Vice about why understanding and acceptance of trans children is so important. “I Was Robbed of My Transgender Childhood,” she says, explaining “It’s the everyday experiences of girlhood I missed that really bring me to tears today.”
- A young trans man, Gavin Cueto, has posted a charming video on his YouTube channel in which he and his grandmother discussing his coming out as transgender.
- Gwendolyn Ann Smith at the Bay Area Reporter, explains the importance of documenting trans history in ways that make it accessible to kids. (A point I’ve tried to make, too, though without Smith’s perspective as a trans person.) She explains, “As our community continues to grow, and we start seeing transgender people come out at younger and younger ages, having a strong history they can point to can be vital to their own development.”
With all of these stories taking the headlines, though, let us not forget: seven trans women have been murdered so far this year, six of them Black, and five of them in their 20s or late teens: Mesha Caldwell, 41; Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, 28; JoJo Striker, 23; Keke Collier, 24; Chyna Gibson, 31; Ciara McElveen, 21; Jaquarrius Holland, 18.
As Monica Roberts of TransGriot says poignantly, “My Sisters, I Want You To Grow Old,” noting that the average age of a Black trans person is 35, “and much of it has to do with the unacceptable levels of anti-trans violence aimed at us.”
Stories of trans kids are wonderful and needed. Let us not embrace the six-year-old trans girl with curls and a dimpled smile, however, and forget the grown trans women and men who may still be struggling with acceptance and survival. Getting schools to allow trans students to access the bathroom that matches their gender identity is only part of the solution. As the latest U.S. Transgender Survey notes, there are “disturbing patterns of mistreatment and discrimination and startling disparities between transgender people in the survey and the U.S. population when it comes to the most basic elements of life, such as finding a job, having a place to live, accessing medical care, and enjoying the support of family and community,” as well as “harassment and violence at alarmingly high rates.” They urge:
Governmental and private institutions throughout the United States should address these disparities and ensure that transgender people are able to live fulfilling lives in an inclusive society. This includes eliminating barriers to quality, affordable health care, putting an end to discrimination in schools, the workplace, and other areas of public life, and creating systems of support at the municipal, state, and federal levels that meet the needs of transgender people and reduce the hardships they face. As the national conversation about transgender people continues to evolve, public education efforts to improve understanding and acceptance of transgender people are crucial. The rates of suicide attempts, poverty, unemployment, and violence must serve as an immediate call to action, and their reduction must be a priority.
Bathroom laws are only the tip of an insidious iceberg. As actor Laverne Cox has said, those laws “are about whether trans people have the right to exist in public space.” That shouldn’t even be in question. They do—and those of us who are cisgender should work as allies to help ensure that: in our personal lives, by speaking out against anti-trans policies and legislation, and by supporting trans-inclusive education and media.