Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Transgender Kansas City Girl

After watching the video in class earlier this week on the young girl who transitioned from a boy to a girl, I recalled a story that my roommate told me earlier this year.  My roommate is from Kansas City and he told me about this 8 year old girl who transitioned from a boy to a girl that he is good family friends with.  He told me that he has never seen a happier girl in his life and that she said she was incredibly proud that she can finally say she is "comfortable and relieved."  In this YouTube video, the parents are interviewed by KCTV5 and they are extremely supportive of their daughter.  The thing that I like about these parents that I cannot say other parents would do in this situation is that they told everyone else who asked about it that "it is going to be ok."  We have learned about a lot of instances where the parents of the child who has transitioned sexes are not supportive and distance themselves from their child.  This video was bittersweet for me because I was extremely happy for this individual case, yet at the same time it made me sad to know that there are so many kids out there struggling in their decision to face the reality of what they feel they identify as no matter there anatomical makeup.  After watching this video, I came away from it with a few questions that I really want to know the answers of.  Can we offer a protective shelter for kids to run away to that they can stay at when they know there parents are not going to be supportive of their decision?  I think that would be extremely beneficial and I would definitely love to help out at something like that.  I would love to discuss in class ways we can try and encourage kids to speak out on who they truly identify as because I know people see these YouTube videos just wishing they could do the same.

1 comment:

  1. JR,
    This is really interesting. I found it really cool that, Avery didn't want to come out and tell everyone her true identity, until she viewed another transgendered girl on YouTube tell her story. I have always agreed power is in numbers, and in this case the more support those on the fence see, the more likely they are to open up about their personal issue.
    The shelter idea is a really interesting one, I would agree that it would be worth our while in class to look into it!

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