The reason, of course, is that Sasha is starting school.

Miss Laxton, a web designer from Sawston, Cambridgeshire, admitted that keeping her child’s gender under wraps for so long had not been easy. At her mother and baby group, she said she was regarded as ‘that loony woman who doesn’t know whether her baby is a boy or a girl’. ‘I could never persuade anyone in the group to come round for coffee,’ she said. ‘They just thought I was mental.’

At school, Sasha sometimes wears a ruched-sleeved and scalloped-collared shirt from the girl’s uniform list. But he has yet to encounter any teasing or bullying. ‘Nobody’s ever mentioned it and I would hope that if they actually said something to Sasha, he’d be confident enough to make a good response,’ his mother said.

I think they sound entirely sane and reasonable, and I applaud their efforts to raise their child without the restrictions gender places on all of us.

The only thing that bugs me about this is the idea of using the term “gender non-conforming” for a child like this. On the surface of it, sure. But it’s exactly the gender typical femininity of such kids that often convinces people they are trans in the first place; if she were more of a tomboy, her trans status wouldn’t be as obvious to people, right?

“A lot of times, parents with straight kids, they think like, ‘You know what? That would never happen to my kid so why would my kid need to learn something like this?’ And I think the key is your kid doesn’t need to be LGBT. As long as your kid is perceived with any trait associated with LGBT, they can be bullied. They can be made fun of. Your kids can be a victim of any of that.”

He adds that parents of transgender children go through a difficult emotional process of their own.

“Parents, they have to go through different stages themselves,” he explains. “In the beginning, they tend to deny it. They hope their kids will grow out of it. They are having a tough time. They have to grieve over losing a son or a daughter and welcoming a new gender of a child. And I think that’s a process. It’s not easy for any parent to accept that because no parent has a kid and then think that this kid may be a transgender kid…. It’s tough… [when you have] a dream for your kid and all of a sudden that dream vanishes, and you have to recreate a dream for your kid[’s] future, and at the same time, knowing that society is not so tolerant out there. And I think that is very tough [for] a lot of parents to accept that.”

He advises parents who have transgender children to talk as much as possible with other people about these issues.

“I really think that [they should] talk to people about it, talk to other parents about it. And don’t just talk to one person. I would talk to multiple people. Talk to the school principal, talk to the counsellors, talk to the professional psychologists or social workers…even family doctor[s], so they can know there are people like this out there, they are not alone, and they can get help.”

Good advice all around.

Bilerico explains:

This month GLAAD is working with organizations including GLSEN, GSA Network, PFLAG and The Trevor Project as part of National Bullying spiritday.jpgPrevention Month to inspire Americans to wear purple on Spirit Day. The Bilerico Project will be joining the campaign by changing our logo purple for the campaign. Wearing purple on this day symbolizes support for LGBT people and against bullying of LGBT teens. 

& GLAAD lists the tons of participants:

Conan O’Brien will join CNBC’s Jim Cramer and Simon Hobbs, Dr. Drew of CNN, E!’s Marc Malkin, Thomas Roberts of MSNBC and hosts of CBS’ The Talk by wearing purple on-air. Seventeen magazine will turn its Twitter avatar purple for the day. 

MTV will be turning the on-air logo purple along with its Facebook, Twitter, MTV.com and MTV Act logos. Online and on-air logos for MTV2, mtvU, MTV Hits, MTV James and RateMyProfessors.com will also turn purple. MTV 44 and ½, the jumbotron in Times Square, will also light purple for Spirit Day.

Companies including American Airlines, AT&T, B|W|R Public Relations, Comcast, Delta, Draftfcb, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard, McGraw-Hill, NBCUniversal, Nielsen, PepsiCo, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Verizon, Viacom, and Yahoo! will participate. Participating companies will be distributing information to employees about wearing purple. Some have also pledged to turn logos purple for the day. For more information on specific plans visit: www.glaad.org/spiritday/corporate.

In addition to wearing purple on October 20, supporters will be changing their Facebook and Twitter photos purple today through October 20 by using free applications that were released to turn profile photos purple at www.glaad.org/spiritday. GLAAD also partnered with Mobli to create a Spirit Day channel for Mobli apps on Android, Blackberry and iPhone products. Mobli, where users can share moments and see the world through other people’s eyes, is a real-time, visual social media platform, made up of subject-based channels such as people, places and topics (www.mobli.com/spiritday).

As previously announced, the Sundance Channel’s employees will be participating, and the Sundance Channel’s social media logos will turn to purple on Spirit Day.

LOGO will air a Spirit Day purple ribbon on the channel to drive viewers to NewNowNext.com to increase awareness against bullying. Additionally, their Twitter (@LogoTV) and Facebook photos will ‘go purple’ and pictures of staff, fans and talent will be posted to Tumblr throughout the day.

Here Media will turn logos on Advocate.com, Gay.com, Gay.net, Out.com, OutTraveler.com and SheWired.com purple for the day.

Additional media participants include the Bilerico Project, Passport, San Diego Gay & Lesbian News and Windy City Times.

In addition to the American Federation of Teachers, GLSEN, GSA Network, Lambda Legal, the PACER Center and The Trevor Project, dozens of local and faith-based organization are also participating in Spirit Day including: All Families Matter, Basic Rights Oregon, Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, Pacific School of Religion Coalition of Welcoming Congregations of the Bay Area, DignityUSA, COLAGE, Equality Hawaii, Equality Illinois, Equality Michigan, Equality Pennsylvania, Equality South Carolina, Equality Texas, Equality Utah, Equality Virginia, Fair Wisconsin, Georgia Equality, GMHC, Human Rights Campaign’s Religion & Faith Program, Institute for Judaism and Sexual Orientation at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Kansas Equality Coalition, Keshet, Lutherans Concerned/North America, Marriage Equality Rhode Island (MERI), Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), More Light Presbyterians, Nehirim: GLBT Jewish Culture and Spirituality, OutFront Minnesota. PFLAG Omaha, Project 515, PROMO, Straight But Not Narrow, Reconciling Ministries Network, Religious Institute: Faithful Voices on Sexuality and Religion, Tennessee Equality Project, Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) and United Church of Christ Office for LGBT Ministries.

Rocking dad. Dumb party organizers. Happy kid.

ME AT NINE, PERFORMING TO MADONNA IN SUMMER ’91! from Robert Jeffrey on Vimeo.

& Someone, somewhere in the world, thinks there’s something wrong with such a talented kid. Luckily, not his parents.

Box Turtle Bulletin has a complete breakdown of the events of Kirk’s life as well as information on the doctors who were responsible for this “therapy”.

Activist Abigail Jensen adds that she is upset “about the erasure, at least in the headlines of this & Anderson Cooper’s upcoming special report, of the fact that this story is as much about treating children who may be transsexual, as it is about children who may be gay.”

His brother Mark says the therapy “turned his light switch off”.

I fully expect more and more families will step forward about this kind of therapy as a result of this documentary, and I’m thankful to Anderson Cooper and team for doing it. This is NOT a historical issue; reparative therapy is still “offered” to gender variant children. For a more recent take, do read D. Scholinkski’s The Last Time I Wore a Dress

In the videos, staff and youth from Larkin Street Youth Services in San Francisco discuss and share lessons learned regarding their approach to supporting LGBTQ youth who are homeless. The video series begins by introducing Toby, Loch and the youth from Larkin Street Youth Center. It describes the importance of being “present” for youth, and helping youth see their own strengths and resources. The youth talk about being rejected by their families due to their LGBTQ identity and leaving home as a result.

The Larkin Street staff provide tips on how to create a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQ youth, including how to handle hate speech. The final episode explores the importance of never making assumptions about a youth’s sexual identity or gender expression, allowing youth to self-identify, and empowering youth to reach their full potential despite the challenges they have faced.

Watch the full episode. See more Teen Connection.

I was very impressed.

Because honestly, didn’t we all grow up with Crayola? So when is it that boys are taught not to care about the finer differences in color?