Transgender Youth Identity Reveals Significance of Parental Acceptance

Andrew M. Seaman | Reuters | Huffington Post | February 3, 2015

(Reuters Health) – Transgender youngsters identify as much with their genders as do non-transgender children, a new study says.

The findings indicate that transgender children are not confused or delayed in their understanding of gender, as some have suggested, write the researchers in Psychological Science.

“People didn’t know how to conceptualize these kids and their experiences,” said Nicholas Eaton, the study’s senior author from Stony Brook University in New York. “People in the scientific community, the society at large and the media didn’t know how to talk about these kids.”

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Research Suggests that Substantial Numbers of Transgender People are Parents and Report Positive Parenting Experiences

For Immediate Distribution
October 28, 2014

Contact:
Laura Rodriguez, lrodriguez@rabengroup.com, (310) 956-2425
Donald Gatlin, dgatlin@rabengroup.com, (202) 587-2871

Transgender parents report experiencing discrimination, but their children are faring well

LOS ANGELES — A new Williams Institute report shows that substantial numbers of transgender people are parents, though at rates that appear lower than the U.S. general population. Most studies reviewed in this report find that between one quarter and one half of transgender study participants are parents. Parenting percentages for adult males and adult females in the general population are at 65 and 74 percent, respectively. The vast majority of transgender parents report that their relationships with their children are good or positive, including after “coming out” as transgender or transitioning. The study is co-authored by Rebecca L. Stotzer, Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Hawai’i; Jody L. Herman, Williams Institute Manager of Transgender Research and Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow; and Amira Hasenbush, Jim Kepner Law and Policy Fellow.

“While transgender parents and their children may face unique challenges and discrimination, research shows that transgender parent-child relationships and child development appear to be similar to that of any other family,” said Stotzer.

The study reviewed 51 existing reports on the prevalence and characteristics of transgender people who are parents, the quality of relationships between transgender parents and their children, outcomes for children with a transgender parent, and the reported needs of transgender parents. Notably, the report finds there is no evidence that children of transgender parents are different from other children in regard to gender identity or sexual orientation development and no evidence of any differences in other developmental milestones.

Other key findings include:
• Two studies have found that people who transition or “come out” as transgender later in life tend to have higher parenting rates than those people who identify as transgender and/or transition at younger ages. This higher rate of parenting could be due to individuals becoming biological parents before they identified as transgender or transitioned.
• Of the six studies that asked about both “having children” and “living with children,” all found that there were more transgender respondents who reported having children than living with children. It may be that many of the respondents represented in these studies had adult children and are no longer living with them. However, there is some evidence that formal and informal attempts to limit the contact of transgender parents with their children may also partially explain this discrepancy.
• Transgender parents have reported having social service needs related to child care, networking with other parents, and support for family planning.
• Transgender parents have reported discrimination – either formally through the courts or informally by the child(ren)’s other parent – in child custody and visitation arrangements. Transgender people who wish to adopt may experience discrimination in adoption.

“This is rapidly growing area of research,” Herman said. “In particular, we need more research to better understand the impact of discrimination on transgender parents and their families.”

The study authors also recommend that federal agencies and administrators of national population-based surveys include questions to identify transgender respondents on surveys, such as the American Community Survey (ACS) and the National Survey on Family Growth (NSFG). The ability to identify transgender people in national, population-based surveys will help create national benchmarks for certain aspects of transgender parenting.

Click here for the full report

 

Don’t Be Your Child’s First Bully

Amelia | Huffington Post | May 8, 2013

“Pink boys,” or gender-nonconforming boys, have been a popular topic of conversation these days. People who have gender-conforming children (or no children at all) are always ready to put in their two cents about what they would do. Whatever. Until you are actually a parent in that situation, you don’t know what you would do. In a recent blog post on The Huffington Post, Randi Zuckerberg wrote that parents who share pictures of their child being gender-nonconforming are doing the child a disservice or are posting these photos without any thought to the consequences. Well, Ms. Zuckerberg is more than welcome to share her opinion, but I completely disagree.

I am fortunate enough to call some of these moms my friends. Sarah Manley, Lori Duron and Kelly Byrom have not only stood by their children publicly but shared the sheer beauty and joy of their children in words and photographs. I can say for certain that none of these women takes sharing lightly. They are well aware of what people think and what people say, but they have made the decision to put their families out there, not for notoriety but in an effort to help other parents who are going through the same thing. Every one of them has had uncomfortable conversations with a very young child about the assholes who make fun of them for being themselves. They don’t live in a bubble. They live in the real world, and they are trying to make that world a better and safer place, not just for their kids but all kids.

Even Ms. Zuckerburg concedes in her blog post, “I wish with all my heart that kids could just be kids and play with whatever they want, wear whatever they want, and choose whatever colors they want, without gender labels or stereotypes.” Well, guess what? We are never going to get to that world without strong women like these moms who are willing to share.

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