A mother in Southern California shares her story.
Transcript
I’m a mom of a 17 year old son in Southern California.
My son decided he was trans two years ago, when a couple of things happened all at the same time: he got cut from a sports team and he stopped hanging out with his friend group from middle school. I think he felt really, really uncomfortable when he started high school with himself and his body, and after doing some Google search, he discovered that he must be trans.
When he told us, we were sort of shocked and maybe didn’t handle it very well. And we did decide to call the doctor which, the paediatrician was a good choice, but then we went to a gender doctor thinking that the doctor would assess him and ask him questions like, Why do you feel this way? But that’s not what happened. The gender doctor just affirmed that he was trans and the doctor said in front of us that if we didn’t support him, he would commit, he has a 44% chance of committing suicide. And it was a little bit shocking, and I don’t think I handled the situation very well. But I was sort of blindsided by that doctor.
My son has grown up in the last two years and he is sort of coming out of this, but not completely. If I could do it all again, I think I would have listened more and maybe not concentrated so much on how I was feeling, but maybe on how he was feeling.
But it was something, as a parent, you’re never prepared for.
No-one tells you that all of a sudden your son’s going to tell you that they’re now your daughter. It’s something in comprehensible. I feel that my son is just lonely, and I don’t think that, I think a lot of kids think they’re trans because they’re trying to get some attention, and I don’t think he needed attention from us. We, his parents have always been there for him. I think he just needed attention from other kids and once he declared trance, he got so much attention. And it’s really sad that that’s what it takes for a kid to get attention from other kids is to think that they have to modify their body.
It’s a very sad state of affairs that this is what adults are pushing. And if I had any advice to offer other parents is: do not go to the doctor, do not go to a therapist because they don’t give the right advice. They they don’t know more than you as a parent. You know your kid and just love them and listen to them and ask questions. But don’t think another adult who knows almost nothing about your child, can help them.
And I do have hope for my son. I think it’s gonna be a long haul, and I am having hope for other children because people are pushing back. It’s gonna take a while but I’m hoping that more kids aren’t harmed.
Thank you