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#How are the other kids adjusting to a trans sibling and the parents devoting themselves into being allies?
coochiequeens · 24 days
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After finding an article about a woman who had three kids and a husband that came out as trans I looked into what was going on in the family. Sure enough their middle child already came out as trans. And now the authors bio identifies her as trans..... But being trans isn't a social contagion
05.11.24
My wife surprised her coworkers when she came out as trans. Then they surprised her. She was ready for one reaction but was greeted with a beautiful response.
Society, pay attention. This is important.
My wife, Zoe, is transgender. She came out to us — the kids and me — last summer and then slowly spread her beautiful feminine wings with extended family, friends, and neighbors. A little coming out here, a little coming out there — you know how it is. It's been a slow, often challenging process of telling people something so personal and scary, but pretty much everyone has been amazing.
However, she dreaded coming out at the office. She works at a large technology company, managing a team of software developers in a predominantly male office environment. She's known many of her co-workers and employees for 15 or so years. They have called her "he" and "him" and "Mr." for a very long time. How would they handle the change?
While we have laws in place in Ontario, Canada, to protect the rights of transgender employees, it does not shield them from awkwardness, quiet judgment, or loss of workplace friendships. Your workplace may not become outright hostile, but it can sometimes become a difficult place to go to every day because people only tolerate you rather than fully accept you.
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06.22.16
"Come with me. You’re going to meet the prime minister."
My family and I were sitting in the House of Commons in Ottawa on May 17, 2016, when a member of the Canadian Parliament came to find us. We exchanged surprised looks and quietly rose from our seats, making our way out into the halls of Canada’s most important edifice.
We were there because we’d been invited to witness history that day.
And now, quite unexpectedly, we were about to meet the man at the helm of this historic change: Justin Trudeau.
In order to understand why we were seconds away from this meeting, it’s important to know why we were asked to be there in the first place.
In many ways, my family is a fairly typical one, with two parents, three kids, and a house in the ‘burbs. I’m a writer, and my spouse works in high tech. We throw birthday parties, pay our taxes, cut the lawn, and walk the dogs.
Our family. If we were ice cream, we’d be vanilla.
Yes, we’re pretty average except for one thing: Two of our family members are transgender.
Just over two years ago, our middle child came out as trans.
Seeing her blossom from a depressed and distressed "boy" into the radiant young lady she is today was the catalyst my partner needed to speak her own truth 18 months later: She is a transgender woman.
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ROWAN JETTÉ KNOX (formerly known as Amanda Jetté Knox) is an award-winning journalist, writer, certified professional coach, and human rights advocate with a special focus on LGBTQ2+ rights and mental health. Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family was a #1 bestseller, an Indigo Best Book of the Year and Staff Pick of the Month, and was chosen for the 2020 Canada Reads Longlist. His work has been featured on the BBC, CBC, The Today Show, O Magazine, The Social, and The Marilyn Denis Show. He was a 2019 Chatelaine Woman of the Year, a 2020 Top 25 Woman of Influence, and was chosen as one of 2020’s Most Influential Parents by Today’s Parent. He was the 2020 gold winner in Best Column from the Canadian Digital Publishing Awards. He lives in Toronto.
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