Airplane travel, heck, travel in general, has always opened up a repressed side of me. My senses heightened, I've scrawled hilarious descriptions of weary travelers, observations of human behavior, insight to my own nature, all entries I wish I'd saved. Possibly my best writing has… Read full post »

If you're trans and you see a skinny Girl Scout, run!

Last fall a girl scout troop, after controversy, welcomed a seven year old transgender girl to their troop. Now, Taylor, a teen girl scout has launched a campaign to protest by refusing to buy Girl Scout Cookies.

To… Read full post »

A lot of people, apparently.

We're standing in line at Toys 'R Us. My affirmed daughter is buying a big pink meanie--a Lots-o-Huggin' Bear. Why the bear is popular I do not know as his character is a grumpy traitor on Toy Story 3. In front of us… Read full post »

It's not every day I get to go to a spa. Few things can be better than a spa weekend in the Catskills with a childhood friend. From yoga and cardio, facials and massages, then steam room and sauna we had it all, not to mention delicious, healthful… Read full post »

I may know more than the Average Joe about transgender issues, but being a part of an LGBTQ family doesn't make me the perfect role model on sensitivity.

Long ago I'd written a post about wearing a dress. I started with the quote:

Just… Read full post »

There are those who tell us that our adoption was meant to be, that already having three sons, we needed a daughter to complete our family; that we were destined to adopt Ruthie because our family was prepared to support a transgender child, and so we found each… Read full post »

  Art by Jymi Cliche.

  Part 1

  Today in my yard I saw the first
  violets of spring. As a sometime
  gardener and a lackadaisical
  weeder, I know full well that  violets, though pretty in April, take up valuable lawn/… Read full post »

Ruthie, our 12-year-old transgender daughter, is out but not proud. She is ashamed and wants no one to know she's trans. Yet a few years ago she started the school year living as a boy, then mid-year socially transitioned to live as a girl. Regardless of… Read full post »

 “Wait until they are teens!” is a mantra I often heard from more seasoned parents. I would smile inwardly knowing that my boys would be okay. But when Connor, 13, decided to try his first drink he didn't go half hog. Within a half an hour he'd drunk himself straight to the… Read full post »

                  There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear
                  of what the neighbours will say. Cyril Con… Read full post »

An unsuccessful shopping trip prompted me to nominate the top ten reasons why I shouldn't buy "skinny jeans." I only got to seven. Which is supposed to a lucky number.

7.   I'm not skinny...
6.   ...but my wallet is.
5.   The holes in my other jeans aren't that bad.
… Read full post »

Connor yelped as he registered his feet, or rather the light gray slipper socks with white rubber dots that covered them. "What the hell?!"

To a young teen who favors ankle-high black Jordan or Nike socks, this was a traumatic event. Never mind the tube fed through his nostril  to… Read full post »

 Sometimes our portended 15 minutes of fame comes unwelcome.

 It all started with a letter. Our principal, well-intentioned--although I believe misguided--decided it was best to send a letter to the third grade parents saying, "We recently became informed that one of our third-grade stu… Read full post »

Always provide for a distraction when your child appears in public for the first time as his or her affirmed gender. I learned this and other things on Ruthie's first day of school as a girl.

Connor—one of my fifth graders—hugs me goodbye and takes off on his bike.… Read full post »

Suddenly we have a girl, she's Ruthie now, she's on top of the world. She frolics in a skirt at home. Hand-me downs arrive from neighbors, from those who get it--from as far away as Maine. She cuts up t-shirts to make jackets, mini-skirts, you name it.… Read full post »

Kudos to Justin Bieber for appearing in a Best Buy Super Bowl commercial making fun of himself. When Ozzy Ozbourne looks at the Justin Bieber in his real guise he asks, “What’s a Bieber?” Bieber, in cognito looking scruffy with a beard answers,“I don’t know, kinda… Read full post »

I am smitten with names, always have been. As a youth I read the What Shall We Name the Baby book over and over until it was ragged and dog-eared. One day my father approached me anxiously asking whether I was pregnant. No I wasn't, it was the love of… Read full post »

Okay let me start out by saying ick, ick, ick.

And then I'll go on to say that I put our lives on the line on a regular basis by writing about my family's experience raising a transgender child. Recently a family with a similar daughter got chased out of… Read full post »

As we waited for the adoption of our son, L, we were getting hints that he might be a different sort of child. So many things about him seemed so feminine, so my sister, a therapist, sent me emails from various lesbian and trans friends. One said:

Assuming… Read full post »

As early as the fall three years ago (we'd adopted midsummer), L was wearing dress-ups as often as he could. Sure, sometimes it would be a pirate or a magician, and we would take heart. More often than not though, it was a princess or fashion model. We… Read full post »

 Have you ever been to the supermarket when a snowstorm is predicted? They may only be predicting 3 to 4 inches but the store will be full of people elbow to elbow. The check-out lines take a sharp turn like an L, blocking the carts which are trying to weave their… Read full post »