Thread by @AyoCaesar

A few thoughts on *that* Guardian 'trans lobby' article...

I was talking to my mum ages ago (who, being both a mum and a social worker has Many Opinions About Child Rearing) about parenting LGBT+ kids...

and I remember saying something pretty flippant about she would never find it challenging on account of having progressive politics. And she stopped me, and said something which has stayed with me ever since:

"The hard bit isn't being a smug liberal, and patting yourself on the back for how tolerant you are. It's being a parent and knowing, that as a straight person, you have no clue how to socialise your child safely into their identity."

"The whole world is set up to accept straight and cisgender children - school discos, clothes shops, their first date at McDonalds. But how do I do that if my kid is gay, or trans? How do I protect them from bigotry, while still giving them space to be who they are?"

I was thinking about what she said when I read that piece in The Guardian. I thought about those parents of trans and gender-questioning children, who are looking for a way to safely socialise their kid into their identity.

And how it must feel to read articles which demonise those few avenues which *do* exist to offer advice and support, and make them out to be some kind of malign influence.

It's shitty, is what I'm saying. And as a society, we can do much better than this.

For the people praising my mum as 'wise' and 'thoughtful in the replies - just know that this is the same lady who can't work her phone and also got tricked into believing that Morris Dancing was being made an Olympic sport by me and my stepbrother.