The Devil Made Them Do It

For all those who aren’t as obsessive as I am about staying on top of what the pro-theocracy, uber-conservative segment of American culture is saying not just about “us”, but more importantly, about our children, read on.

This comes from the “news” arm of James Dobson’s American Family Association. Emphasis is mine…

Colorado School Encourages Gender Confusion In Second-Grader

Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 2/12/2008 1:00:00 PM

Pro-family activist Peter LaBarbera says the case of a second-grade boy in one Colorado school who wants to be identified as a girl shows that the country has normalized deviance.

Staff at a public school in (Location deleted) are preparing to accommodate the second-grader, who wants to attend classes dressed as a girl and be addressed with a girl’s name. The school will allow the boy to use a unisex bathroom, and they are giving parents packets of information on transgendered people.

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, says the real victims of the supposed “diversity policy” are the young man’s classmates. “If the parents are so misled to encourage their child in this gender-confused behavior, they should not be allowed to teach that same behavior to all the other students in the school,” argues LaBarbera. “I think it’s a terribly sad situation. This boy needs help, the parents need help, obviously.”

The pro-family advocate says it is also troubling that the pro-homosexual group “Trans-Youth Family Advocates” has been working with the school district. He says such groups are “in the business of mainstreaming gender confusion” — but somehow manage to work their way into the schools under the guise of being “consultants.”

Being that I am the transwoman who founded (along with 3 non-trans parents) TransYouth Family Advocates in 2006, served as its first Executive Director and President of the Board and who created, defined, designed and presented the earliest and very effective in-service workshops to elementary, middle and high-schools around the nation, I have to call bullshit on this last paragraph.

From the very beginning, it was my belief (shared by the parents I worked with) that we would NOT discuss homosexuality or sexual orientation whatsoever, other than to emphatically explain how a child or youth’s gender identity has nothing whatsoever to do with their sexual orientation. I felt it was important to do this not only to clearly delineate the issues, but to also provide the schools themselves with credible “deniability” regarding promoting a “homosexual agenda”.

Note: Having left my leadership position with TYFA in April or 2006, I cannot confirm beyond any doubt that the organization has not changed its founding policy of not discussing homosexuality as part of its work in schools on behalf of these children and their families. It is simply my belief that the organization still adheres to that policy.

That being said, it doesn’t surprise me at all that the voices of religious intolerance and ignorance continue to beat an already abused drum despite all social, medical, scientific, experiential and humanistic evidence to the contrary.

As for their accusation that groups like the one I founded (TYFA) or my present organization, TransActive Education & Advocacy (TEA) are “in the business of mainstreaming gender confusion” or working our way into “the schools under the guise of being ‘consultants"...(pause)

Sorry. I was laughing so hard I had to step away for a moment. (Deep, cleansing breath.)

I’m a fairly bright human being. And I must say, in all modesty, that I’m probably as knowledgeable about gender identity expression and subconscious sex as, well…anyone. That being said, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT “MAINSTREAMING GENDER CONFUSION” MEANS!

I don’t debate that there are gender questioning people and gender fluid people. But gender “confused”?

con·fused - (kən-fyōōzd’)
adj.

1. Being unable to think with clarity or act with understanding and intelligence. Perplexed. Conflicted. Bewildered.

1. 
   

I think Prof. Lynn Conway, Jamison Greene, Georgina Beyer, Mara Keisling, Marsha Botzer, Shannon Minter, Hayley Klug, Julia Serano, Dr. Marcie Bowers, Moonhawk River Stone, Malcolm Himschoot and others might have something to say about clarity, understanding and intelligence. I’ve got to say that in a debate that utilized those three attributes, I’d put my money on any of the above individuals over Mr. LaBarbera or his minions.

I have met and come to know several dozen trans-identified children & youth over my lifetime and there isn’t one of them who was ever perplexed, conflicted or bewildered about their own gender identity. OTHER people certainly were ‘confused’ by their gender identity, but they weren’t.

People are frequently confused, perplexed, bewildered and afraid of things they don’t understand. It was true prior to and during the time of Christ. It was true during The Crusades. It was true during The Inquisition. It was true during the Salem Witch Trials. It was true during the Scopes Monkey Trial in the 1920’s (and that continues today in one way or another.)

I was a trans child and youth. I have NEVER ONCE been confused about my gender identity. In fact, my gender identity is about the ONLY thing in my life that I’ve been certain of throughout my entire life.

A thought: If “gender confusion” is allegedly related (in some way) to the status of one’s genitals, then it’s only logical that men with small penises or who are impotent are (or should be) somewhat more “gender confused” than men with large penises or potent. Discuss among yourselves.

con·sult·ant - /kənˈsʌltnt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhn-suhl-tnt]
–noun
1. a person who gives professional or expert advice:

Despite Mr. LaBarbera having used quotation marks around the word consultant, I fully embrace that word as being descriptive of what it is I, my associates with TransActive and those who work with other organizations do. We also educate, advocate and support not only the children, youth and their families, but the schools, communities, healthcare providers, social service agencies and legal entities that are in a position to interact with these children and youth.

We are experts on this issue. We are professionals on this issue. I have shared my 50+ years of experience in the field of gender identity experience, expression and interaction with doctors, lawyers, teachers, administrators, trans peers, children, youth and parents. That experience has, at times, been rejected, disregarded, ridiculed and, in some instances, used to hurt me in very personal and painful ways. But that goes with the territory of being not just a trans advocate, but being a TRANS advocate.

There is one part of being a consultant that I wish we more fully embraced. That’s the part where consultants get paid the BIG $$$ for what they do.

I’m proud of the fact that I played a key role in getting TYFA to where they are today, but I doubt they are rolling in dough. I do know that my advocacy work over the past 2 years with both that group and TransActive has not changed my tax bracket in an upwardly mobile direction. It has changed my tax bracket though…

If you are as outraged as I continue to be by these attacks on gender non-conforming children, youth and their families, then join me in speaking up and speaking OUT for them.

Send TransActive your calm, well thought out, respectful letters and emails about this issue and we will forward them to the school administration to demonstrate support for this family and their child and to show them this family is not alone.

If you are so motivated, you may also send a donation through PayPal at our website to support our outreach efforts for other children and their families. At present we have 3 families in the same situation as the one in Colorado, in addition to our educational work with schools, PTO’s, PFLAG chapters, GSA’s, etc.

It is the responsibility of those of us who have “been there” to do everything we can to make that journey to and through puberty and on to adulthood less traumatic for child and family than it was for so many of us.

Pat LaBarbera and his ilk are out to ratchet up the intolerance that our trans children face. Can we remain silent?