This article in The Advocate talks about two parents who sought out family therapy because their five-year old son likes to play with dolls and dressing up in little princess gowns. The twist to this story, though, is that the little boy has two lesbian momies. This quote is the crux of the story:
"We need to ask ourselves, as LGBT parents, what it is that we fear for our children who cross gender boundaries. Cross-gender behavior can be very anxiety provoking for parents; we may be embarrassed or frightened by a son’s overt femininity or a daughter’s masculine expression. Indeed, we also might be more fiercely protective of our children, living as we all do with the ghosts of our own queer childhoods. We are often torn between wanting to give our children room for self-expression and wanting to protect them from being teased. It is a rare LGBT parent that does not succumb, at least sometimes, to the fear that we are hurting our children because we are queer, especially regarding the development of their sexual and gender identities."
Some same-sex parent families apparently so closely resemble "traditional" ones that they also have a similar phobia about rasing a gay child.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I caught this article online the other day and was troubled by what I read for many reasons, but what really stood out is the tired refrain of I can accept anything but a transsexual. The money quote for me was this:
ReplyDelete"The last thing we want to do is silence our children, but most of us (if we are being honest) say to ourselves “not transsexualism” with a frozen sense of terror."
It is bad enough when those of us who identify as transsexual have to face discrimination from those on the radical right, but when our so-called allies in the gay and lesbian community make comments like this, it just sends chills up my spine.
Just my two cents worth. Thanks for sharing this with your readers. Hopefully it will open some minds.
I just think that these two parents need to be educated on the subject and they hopefully will be able to handle the situation in a proper manner. Just because someone is LGTB does not mean that they are always informed enough to make positive decisions regarding their children. I do agree with Kelly above, that this is sad story to report. I'm hoping that everyone will be happy in the end.
ReplyDelete