I’m posting this with the Glee tag because, aside from ship wars, I think you are the most amazing group of young people and I wanted to share something with you.
I am a teacher and we have a transgendered student at our school. I will refer to this student using masculine pronouns because he still identifies as male but that is changing. He is currently going though names to decide what his new name will be. If I did not know he was male I would have assumed he was female. The way he dresses is as a girl as is the way he wears his hair. His brother told me that the student has known he was a girl since he was 4 years old. The student in question is 6.
His parents have been great with him and very supportive. His favorite story is a book about a transgendered child that his parents read to him at night. He’s asked his mother is there anything they can do for him and she has told him not yet but they would be able to correct the situation when he is older. While his older brother (who is 8) says it doesn’t bother him and he loves his brother as he is, he also worries that in the future the student will be bullied or hurt because of the way he acts. At this point that hasn’t happened. The other kids accept him as he is. He has many friends and is seen as just another student in our school community.
I must admit, though, I worry for him. It makes me sad to think of the rough road he has ahead of him. I wonder why all students/people can’t be the way these young elementary students are and see beyond the exterior. He seems to have a strong support network at home and maybe this will help him survive whatever challenges lie ahead.
As Glee followers, you all are the type of support this child and children of the future will need. You look beyond the ideal that people set as “normal” and accept people for who they are. I hope you are able to raise your own children some day in your image so that they can continue to preach the message of acceptance. While, as a country, we seem to be moving forward with our message I hate that in so many other ways we are moving backwards. I am concerned that this backward movement will hurt the people that others view as not normal. Please, even though the series Glee is over, its message of acceptance lives on. I hope you continue to preach that message and fight for the equality and acceptance that all people deserve.
