Our Six Year Old Is Transgender.

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
Transgender Childhood Is Not a ‘Trend’

By Jules Gill-Peterson
Ms. Gill-Peterson is an associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of “Histories of the Transgender Child.”


There’s a story I know of a young transgender girl from rural Wisconsin, who before the age of 5 made it clear enough to her parents that she was a girl, not a boy, that they changed her name and dressed her in girl’s clothes. When the time came for her to go to school, her parents arranged with school administrators for her to attend as a girl. She used the girls’ bathroom and participated in the girls’ 4-H Club. All in all, she was treated with respect, not bullied or shunned.
Maybe you can picture a girl like that today. But can you picture her in the 1930s?
This girl, whom I call Val in the book I wrote on the history of transgender children, socially transitioned, went to school and participated in extracurricular activities over 80 years ago. And she was hardly alone. In my research, I found stories of other transgender children like Val who were able to transition and go to school despite living in times when their identities weren’t commonly acknowledged. They were not forced into transitioning by adults. And they were certainly not transitioning because it was trendy or socially popular.
The high visibility of transgender youth in this country is quite recent, but transgender children themselves are not. Indeed, as far back as historians like me have found evidence of transgender people, we have found transgender children. So why don’t most people know about kids like Val? One reason is that long before there were words like “transgender” to describe these people’s lives, they passed under the radar.
The past several months have witnessed an aggressive legal assault on transgender youth across the country. Dozens of bills presented in over 20 states — and signed into law by governors in several — seek to ban, or sometimes criminalize, transgender children’s access to health care and organized sports. One of the central assumptions underlying these state-level bills is that transgender children participating in sports or needing gender-affirming health care are issues that did not exist until a few years ago, or that transgender childhood is a contemporary trend.

In the Arkansas state legislature, Joseph Backholm, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, appeared in front of a House committee reviewing legislation that would ban gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. (The bill was vetoed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday.) Mr. Backholm’s argument in favor of the bill opened with the premise that “the recent increase in those claiming to be transgender can only be described as astronomical” and framed transgender identity as a “cultural phenomenon” of 21st-century teenagers.
The idea that transgender youth are new and poorly understood, and therefore should be treated with intense caution and scrutiny, is reinforced by many opponents of trans children’s access to health care and sports. Perhaps the most literal example is Lisa Littman’s coining of the phrase “rapid onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD), for a supposed condition in which children “suddenly” become transgender because of peer influence and experience gender dysphoria without any warning — to their parents, that is.
ROGD is not a formal mental health diagnosis, and the journal that published Dr. Littman’s article issued a correction and an apology after an outpouring of criticism from doctors and advocates. Yet the term is still widely cited by right-wing media and was also offered without context by Mr. Backholm in his testimony to the Arkansas House.
These lines from Abigail Shrier’s 2020 book, “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” capture the tenor of the skepticism floating around online: “Three decades ago, these girls might have hankered for liposuction while their physical forms wasted away. Two decades ago, today’s trans-identified teens might have ‘discovered’ a repressed memory of childhood trauma. Today’s diagnostic craze isn’t demonic possession — it’s ‘gender dysphoria.’”
But Ms. Shrier’s claim is not supported by the fact that children like Val have lived transgender lives long before, not to mention during, each of the time periods that she invokes when girls would have supposedly sought out a different path than transition. Transgender children from every region in the country and many different backgrounds have been able to transition as far back as medical opportunities have been available.
A 17-year-old girl grew up in a small town in Missouri in the early 1940s and went to see her family doctor for advice. In 1969, a 15-year-old trans girl moved from rural Ohio to Columbus to live with her sister and find a doctor who could provide gender-affirming care. Around the same time in Los Angeles, a teenager started hormones, changed her name and enrolled in a new school as a girl. And in 1973, a doctor in upstate New York familiarized himself with trans medicine in order to offer hormones and, when the time was right, a referral for top surgery for a 15-year-old trans boy.

Each of these children’s lives testify to just how possible it was, over many decades and in every corner of the country, for transgender children to flourish when supported.

If transgender youth have gone to doctors, attended school and played sports for decades, then what reason is there to pursue this kind of legislation other than discrimination? Chase Strangio, the deputy director for transgender justice at the American Civil Liberties Union, said to CNN recently about the sports and health care bills, “I think the impulse underlying both is to try to establish governmental policy that it’s harmful to be trans.”

And what will be the outcome if these bills pass? As Dr. Michele Hutchison, a pediatric endocrinologist, explained in testimony to Arkansas lawmakers, “I guarantee you if this bill passes, children will die,” vowing to the state senators that “I will call you guys every single time one does.”

However politicized the visibility of transgender youth has become, with lives now hanging in the balance, Val’s story — and those of other transgender children — raises a powerful counterfactual case of a transgender child who not only transitioned young but also was able to grow up into a successful adult. In fact, Val was one of the first trans women to try (though unsuccessfully) to obtain access to surgery in the United States in the 1940s.

Despite all the obstacles she faced in a period where there was little understanding of transgender people, Val persevered. And so will today’s transgender youth. The question is whether we adults will choose to abandon them — or to care for them so that they can grow up, like Val.
 

mooray

Well-Known Member
Dont hate me cuz I told the truth.

And no its not an opinion.

How the fuck does a 6yr old even know what trans is?? If they didnt know about it then they cant ‘be it’.

Fail
How do you know that their kid knows what transgender is? Did their kid make this thread?
 

Unclebaldrick

Well-Known Member
American Christians hate everyone and everything, just like Jesus did.
Funny story. Our company did not allow beards or mustaches until very recently. A lot of people started to buck that trend. One of the first did so claiming a religious exemption, like the one offered for Sikhs. I had his document claiming that religious exemption where he quoted Leviticus to wit: "
You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard." I quizzed him about it at the time and asked if he observed all of Leviticus' commands. I asked if he ever wore cloth made of mixed fibers. He hemmed and hawwed but eventually said that he did not. I expressed my scepticism by pointing out that his uniform was a mixed blend of fibers. I told him that I had hoped he wasn't the sort that cherry picked the bible in order to serve his own purposes. I had no grounds to deny a religious exemption and his beard was approved. I don't really give a fuck either way.

Shortly thereafter, the company caved - as they should have since it was ridiculous. Now anybody can grow a beard and mustache. After his beard grew in he decided he did not like it and shaved. BTW, this is one of the people I used my "guess who has been narcotic free for 75 days?" joke on yesterday.

I told him he looked better without the beard. He thanked me. I then told him that I am sorry that he lost his faith. He looked at me quizzically. I said that by his own beliefs, shaving his beard made him a sinner so he must have left his faith rather than defying the literal word of god. He, a devout christian, objected and said that he was as faithful as ever. I told him that I was then glad we could agree that he cherry picked the bible as a way to portray his personal beliefs as those of god and ended the conversation laughing.

Good times.
 

Dryxi

Well-Known Member
How the fuck does a 6yr old even know what trans is?? If they didnt know about it then they cant ‘be it’.
Fail
Kids do not need to know what 'trans' is to know gender differences. We pick out 'boy' toys vs 'girl' toys when they are little. Boy clothing vs girl clothing, boy activities vs girl activities, etc. Even kids notice the differences.
 

captainmorgan

Well-Known Member
When a cult knocks on my door to spread the word of god they never come back lol. I used to ignore them and not even answer the door but they always came back, I now confront the wack jobs and point out their lunacy, it's very effective.
 

mooray

Well-Known Member
I definitely gravitate towards disliking religion, but ultimately it's up to people to use any medium in healthy manner.

If people use religion for something hateful, then they were just a hateful person that is abusing a medium to express their hate.

No 'thing' or idea has magic powers that turns good people into bad. Important to make that distinction, because if you don't, then the person is no longer accountable for their actions.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
American Christians hate everyone and everything, just like Jesus did.
I'm not defending someone who lived long long ago, in a place far far away, but tarring Jesus with the same brush as modern republicans libels the son of man! Com'on, no way was this guy was as bad as yer average Trumper deplorable, he healed the sick for free (socialism) and advocated turning the other cheek, something Cheeto Jesus would never do, along with forgiving your enemies! It was do unto others, as you would have them do unto you, not, do the fuckers before they have a chance to do you! :lol:
 

schuylaar

Well-Known Member
Funny story. Our company did not allow beards or mustaches until very recently. A lot of people started to buck that trend. One of the first did so claiming a religious exemption, like the one offered for Sikhs. I had his document claiming that religious exemption where he quoted Leviticus to wit: "
You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard." I quizzed him about it at the time and asked if he observed all of Leviticus' commands. I asked if he ever wore cloth made of mixed fibers. He hemmed and hawwed but eventually said that he did not. I expressed my scepticism by pointing out that his uniform was a mixed blend of fibers. I told him that I had hoped he wasn't the sort that cherry picked the bible in order to serve his own purposes. I had no grounds to deny a religious exemption and his beard was approved. I don't really give a fuck either way.

Shortly thereafter, the company caved - as they should have since it was ridiculous. Now anybody can grow a beard and mustache. After his beard grew in he decided he did not like it and shaved. BTW, this is one of the people I used my "guess who has been narcotic free for 75 days?" joke on yesterday.

I told him he looked better without the beard. He thanked me. I then told him that I am sorry that he lost his faith. He looked at me quizzically. I said that by his own beliefs, shaving his beard made him a sinner so he must have left his faith rather than defying the literal word of god. He, a devout christian, objected and said that he was as faithful as ever. I told him that I was then glad we could agree that he cherry picked the bible as a way to portray his personal beliefs as those of god and ended the conversation laughing.

Good times.
good news for your office Karen.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
When a cult knocks on my door to spread the word of god they never come back lol. I used to ignore them and not even answer the door but they always came back, I now confront the wack jobs and point out their lunacy, it's very effective.
I always talk to them, but haven't seen any for years, I figure they are like grifters who used to leave a mark, hence the name mark for a sucker. When they came to my door I left a mark on a few of them, took their propaganda and told them I'd be by the church to continue the conversation with the preacher, right after the sermon "during the public question and answer period", cause if there wasn't one, I'd make one. I've even invited Mormons in for coffee and a discussion of the life of Joe Smith, no takers and no shows after that either, I think they keep a list of the dangerous.
 

Dapper_Dillinger

Well-Known Member
Thanks. I am not associated with a church anymore but was very surprised to find that we have one here with a trans minister. Not only that, but he transitioned while being the minister. Lost half his flock. He has been a good asset. I respect the teaching of Jesus and feel the desire to show my child what Jesus taught rather than letting her be exposed to it by these Trumpian cult members. I think it is important since they are the ones that have the biggest problem with her.

I teach her about Jesus. I teach her about "christians". First I had to teach her what hypocrisy means.

The school is OK but we cannot get past what her classmates' parents believe. We will be leaving before long.
And you said that you 6 yo child came to this decision without any outside influence for your gay pastor or wackjob family? You really believe it's a good idea to chop you kids nuts off because you support gay rights.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
And you said that you 6 yo child came to this decision without any outside influence for your gay pastor or wackjob family? You really believe it's a good idea to chop you kids nuts off because you support gay rights.
You guys have a lot in common with ISIS. Is your hatred of Muslims due self-hate or are you jealous of the harems?
 

printer

Well-Known Member
While we are here might as well mention it. Had a nice 'brown' family (man, wife, young daughter, guessing Indian) four doors down. The only problem I had was that they dumped a ton of money into their house which helps raise the taxes on the street. They moved, the neighbour right next to them had signs in the windows facing the 'brown' neighbour's house. "Sinners repent": and things like that. Was a surprise as I felt they were reasonably laid back. A white family moved in and no sign of the signs. Just saying.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
And you said that you 6 yo child came to this decision without any outside influence for your gay pastor or wackjob family? You really believe it's a good idea to chop you kids nuts off because you support gay rights.
Nuts are still there for when the kid rebels in the teenage years. Don't you worry yourself.
 
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