I don’t know why I was born transgender, but I have no secret agenda. I want my child to live in a world where they are safe and free to be exactly who they are.
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Fewer than 1 in 3 people report personally knowing someone who is transgender. Yet the American public is saturated with viral social media videos and political news stories, largely generated by a well-funded coalition of organizations long dedicated to making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ+ people to go about their daily lives.
These organizations proudly advocate for the abuse of LGBTQ+ young people through the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy, and they have celebrated their role in influencing Texas to “investigate” parents who’re doing their level best to support their transgender kids.
They’ve succeeded in generating national debates about excluding transgender kids from school sports, banning medically necessary health care and even prohibiting restroom usage – all under a guise of “protecting young people.” But these debates are largely missing the point.
Transgender people are our friends, family members and neighbors. They work in the cubicle next to us at the office, and they pray next to us in our houses of worship.
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My understanding is that it was a Tumblr fad that became viral outside of Tumblr because it’s easy to recognize the absurdity, and it made a great target for ridiculing the woke (back when “woke” was a complement, and we just called this sort of thing being “politically correct”).
Point is, you can’t just impose new words on purpose. Language doesn’t work that way. It’s all about the viral memes taking off. So it’s always best to adapt existing language.
“They” is finally clicking in my mind as a singular gender neutral word, for example. It took a while, I have to admit.