One of the questions I always ask potential community members is: "What have you learned from your transgender/gender-expansive child?"

Parents' faces immediately light up as they think about how to put into words all the things they've learned from parenting a gender-expansive kiddo.

One parent recently said, "I learned to be me and have more acceptance for myself. I now surround myself with people who love me for me, and I don't have to edit myself."

Boy howdy, can I relate to that!

Once I entered the work world after college, I felt like I had two selves: my work self and my other, true self.

It seems like that's the way of our current business and office culture. To be "professional" - but by whose definition?

Over the years, this incongruence bothered me more and more. Having to mute myself for the majority of my waking hours took a toll.

Watching my nonbinary kids live fully into who they are helped me realized that I needed to find that lost self.

I now feel more like myself than I ever have. Like yesterday's interviewee, I don't have to edit who I am. I'm surrounded by people who appreciate all of me, not just a polished version of who I think I should be.

And I learned this from my kids.

What have you learned from your transgender loved ones?

Mandy Giles​
Founder, Parents of Trans Youth​

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