Paula Zahn at cnn did this interview with a 7-year-old transgendered child and her family. The child’s parents initially resisted their biologically male child’s desire to wear pink clothes and play with dolls. But after the child began to show signs of depression and attempted to cut off his penis, the parents started to permit their son to live as a girl. The child is now thriving. In an interview with Zahn, the child described living her dream of “being happy as a girl.”
Several university campuses have “safe zones” for LGBT students (check this list to see if your school does). Fewer high schools do. We are not aware of any grade schools that do.
And yet safe space – or even safe space plus anti-discrimination laws — may not be enough. This report by Advocates for Children of New York suggests that “most” LGBT students in New York City public schools “experienced extensive harassment and/or discrimination in New York City schools, both by peers and school staff.” If this occurs in New York, a city that prides itself on diversity and tolerance, it happens everywhere. And maybe we are not as tolerant as we claim to be.
-Bridget Crawford and Amanda Kissel
