Anonymous wrote:FFS. When I was a kid, I was constantly being told that being bisexual was “trendy”, “a fad”, “you’ll grow out of it”. I’m in my 30s, still 100% bisexual. I had several trans& gender non conforming friends as a teen growing up in Herndon. My parents modeled respect, and kindness and it wasn’t a big deal even pre-marriage equality and repeal of DADT. My dad had a coworker in 1993 transition over the Christmas holidays, she came back and said “My name is now ___, my pronouns are she/her” and it was nbd bc she was great at her high tech job. More people are trans nowadays, they’re just spending less of their lifetime hiding in shame and distress. That’s a good thing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mental illness. Hurting people seeking pain relief. Children need solid parenting.

+1000. What are we doing to this generation of kids?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't give into this trendy bullshit. Tell your child he or she is beautiful the way he or she is. Tell your child that boys can wear pink and girls can wear camo. Don't encourage them to disassociate from their bodies. It is parents' job to help children to love themselves as they are and to help them reach their dreams from a place of reality, not a place of delusion. Help your child have the courage to be a feminine male and be proud of himself and live in the real world with a healthy body, not one crippled by sterility and ill-health from estrogen. Stop the madness, seriously.

Serious question though. What if the trans kid in question (born male and claims to identify as female) already embraces the things you have outlined and isn't looking to wear pink or high heels. In fact, this 19 year old transgender person I know is maybe one of the more masculine kids I've met, does not shave facial hair, and thinks it's a ridiculous question when his mom asked if he planned to "present as a woman" (i.e., is he going to start wearing skirts or makeup or shaving his facial hair?...or are we all just supposed to start calling him "her" when he doesn't do anything to help the visual along?) The answer was "mom that's ridiculous! I'm not suddenly going to become a different person with different tastes. It's just that now I'd like you to address me as "she" and "her" and use my new name "Laura" instead of "Mike". WTH is she supposed to do with that???

Anonymous wrote:Don't give into this trendy bullshit. Tell your child he or she is beautiful the way he or she is. Tell your child that boys can wear pink and girls can wear camo. Don't encourage them to disassociate from their bodies. It is parents' job to help children to love themselves as they are and to help them reach their dreams from a place of reality, not a place of delusion. Help your child have the courage to be a feminine male and be proud of himself and live in the real world with a healthy body, not one crippled by sterility and ill-health from estrogen. Stop the madness, seriously.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:or you could reach out to PFLAG, the gender clinic at Children's https://childrensnational.org/news-and-events/childrens-newsroom/2015/childrens-national-opens-youth-pride-clinic-for-district-lgbt-youth or any number of other resources.

Jut because your child's announcement seems "sudden" to you doesn't mean that it hasn't been well thought out by the child over a long period of time.

Trans kids are at huge risk of suicide and other self-harming behaviors. Family support is a tremendous protective factor.

Whether your child eventually decides to transition or not is less important than whether your child is happy, healthy, and alive.

+ infinity

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would rather err on the side of being a supportive parent than a parent that rejects their child. Growing up and finding your own identity is a hard process.

My best friend is trans and I think he is a lot happier and at ease living as a man than as a woman. His parents are incredibly supportive of him.

I believe that the percentage of population of people who are gay is around 4 to 5% (it's difficult to get an accurate census since people will lie about it) and people who are transand even smaller population but trans issues are in the news more. Likely because being gay is less and less of an acceptable target for conservatives but they can still pick on trans people to make the Christian conservatives happy.

I think it's appropriate to be supportive for any non-permanent changes. Hair, clothes, names are temporary and can be changed back later if a person changes their mind. Surgery and hormones have permanent repercussions. The health risks are significant and understudied. There are bone density, problems, cancer risks and more, never mind the sterilization aspect. I worry for kids who are just a bit lost and exploring their identity who get caught up in this and make permanent changes. Especially those kids who never expressed gender identity confusion before their teenage years.