We're at the Biodome in Montreal, and The Small Person and I head to the bathroom. The Small Person refuses to come into the men's with me, insisting he is a girl. I decide it's fine for him to go into the women's, although I'm not prepared to go in with him. He goes in, and I sit down on a bench outside. Not two minutes later a woman sticks her ( Read more... )

So in my spare time (you know, outside of work, and parenting and going to grad school) I agreed to give a short talk for Queer Ontario, for their Greg Pavelick Memorial Public Forum in Education. Since then a number of people have asked me to share my talk. Here it is:

Only Cisgender Children Go Through Puberty: The Invisibility of Gender ( Read more... )

A teacher I work with requested a short story, by a trans* person, about "coming out" to use with a group of LGBT high school students. I was not able to recommend one (this may well be because my memory is bad, if you have a suggestion, please leave it in the comments and apologies if I am overlooking your work). I can heartily recommend a number ( Read more... )

Last Tuesday evening, Stanley told me he wanted a haircut. Stanley has never had a haircut, and his beautiful long blond hair falls in gorgeous ringlets, which I was washing at the time. Stanley has always hated having his hair washed, and I though perhaps he was requesting a haircut as a way to avoid future hair washing. Anyway, it was after eight ( Read more... )

After synagogue last week, there were masks on the tables in the kiddush. The tables were covered in blue cloths and in the middle of each were stacks of beautiful feathered masks and noise-makers. Our synagogue was a little late celebrating Purim, but we got there. The Small Person was delighted to see the masks and sorted through them to find a ( Read more... )

It was Sunday morning at Blue Skies, my all-time favorite music festival. The tents were pitched close together, there was accordion and fiddle music, and a gaggle of kids played together in the firelane. One of them, who looked to be about five, stopped and asked me if Stanley was a boy or a girl. I looked at Stanley, and called out "Stanley, are ( Read more... )

Periodically, I get asked if there are more gender independent/ gender non-conforming/gender imaginative/ gender creative/gender variant/ transgender/ trans children and youth because there is more awareness of transpeople and trans-identities in society.

The answer is always no.

More awareness may mean more legal protections, and it may mean that ( Read more... )