Yesterday I was inspired to nag my partially-Covid-infected family into participating in Tashlich, a ritual in which one casts off what they want to leave behind—usually by way of tossing bread into a body of water—and stepping into a new beginning. Who do you want to become this year, I asked my family. What do you want to bid farewell to, and what do you want to aspire to? (The real inspiration came from my friend Alana and this sermon by her husband.)
They made fun of the whole thing, complained, threw their rocks in the water (I didn’t want to pollute the dog pond with bread) and we went back inside. But I am so pleased to be able to ponder this right now. I want to stop having conflicts with people, to feel confident enough in what I’m doing that I don’t need to prove it to the nonbelievers, to be able to determine who is reachable and not worry about those who aren’t, to be curious and kind-ish, and tell the whole fucking truth. I am committed to staying centered, to continuing the message that gender diversity is natural and normal, and to trying to show people that what they think they’re supporting is not actually helping with that mission. I don’t want to tell them that they’re wrong; I want to show them the whole picture so they can properly make up their minds.
I’m doing some traveling in the coming months to interview people for this project, and would love to hang with some folks. I’ll be headed soon to Seattle and DC, later in the year to Portland, Philly and several other places in VA, NC, STL. Ping me if you are in those spots; write “heretic hangout” in the subject line.
Please talk amongst yourselves here about what you need going forward to be your best self.
I love what you're saying here. Very inspiring. I hope for the same for myself -- less anger, more understanding -- less fear, more faith -- less uncertainty, more confidence. May this coming year open doors for "the message that gender diversity is natural and normal, and to show people that what they think they’re supporting is not actually helping with that mission." I love this!
Basically, what I want to be is in the serenity prayer - serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
I am also trying to calm down about all this. Since mid summer, I have been trying on the concept that I made it through this with my kids intact and wary of their own generation so it's "not my problem" anymore. I don't believe it, of course, since we are all needed to make society better, but there is only so much I can do and maybe I already did a lot. You certainly can take that stance and remove a bit of the anger and stress, Lisa. You deserve that so much! None of us deserves the anger and stress and the injury that causes to our own health and well being.
Hi Lisa! Your "ping me" link didn't work for me. I'm in Seattle and would love to hang out with you. I've been doing some good work on my personal facebook page, conducting civil discussions on sex and gender identity and specifically on our public schools' gender identity policies. I seem to have a knack for hosting civil discussions on controversial topics among my friends and I would like to share with you what I've done so far. Let me know how I can privately get you my contact info.
My main goal for the upcoming year is to keep working on self-acceptance and stoicism. Maybe I'll finally get around to fully tolerating my sexual orientation--because while it didn't get me into the trans mess, it certainly kept me locked in for way too long.
Looking forward and not backwards. It’s really hard — even resisting the side-glance into the rearview mirror to see if maybe now…or maybe NOW someone who I felt hurt by can see things from my perspective! Accepting that it doesn’t matter if someone sees things from my perspective— there are consequences of standing in one’s own truth and being strong enough to accept those consequences. Judging favorably. (Or not judging at all!) Self-kindness. Gratitude.
Who do I want to become this year, what do I want to let go of, and what do I want to aspire to? I want to be the fun and sweet, loving mom my girls can easily seek out for comfort and come to for solace and support, I want to let go of the worry and move towards the time where my girls feel ease and our family can breathe again.
Thanks for this, Lisa, I really appreciated your comment and enjoyed reading what everyone wrote. My intention for the coming year is similar to Lisa's - I want to have conversations, not yell at the other side with no hope of them hearing me or me hearing them.
Last week I went to the Million Person March for Children that was organized in more than a dozen cities here in Canada to protest the way gender and sexual orientation are taught in public schools. I stayed for about an hour (then had to go back to work), but I felt conflicted about it because it was literally two opposing sides (the protesters and the counter-protesters) either preaching to the choir or else yelling at each other. If you google it you'll see a bunch of videos and you can see for yourselves the sort of atmosphere that was there. In any case, I was glad I went because I saw this was not a "anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ" protest like the media was making it out to be, and I think we do need to make our voices heard and our stance more visible. But this protest did nothing to promote conversation or understanding or compromise. In fact, the result was the opposite because media spun it as "hateful" and politicians and school unions and universities all called it "hateful", and it made people even angrier on both sides.
So, for my own personal self, I will most likely avoid protests, but I will speak out in other ways, especially to promote conversation and understanding. I am inspired by Julia Mallot, who had a lot of crap thrown at her from both sides, and yet she keeps going with her mission of bringing people together and finding common ground. As a Christian, I will make every effort and take every opportunity to speak the truth in love.
I have one mother & father (pro GAC) for their 20 yo trans son coming in tomorrow. I also separated myself from mass social media platforms years ago, so in terms of reach I'm relying on word of mouth & PITT at this point.
This is the loveliest of threads; every comment is wonderful. With thanks to Lisa, yet once again, for opening this thread, and with a wonderful story of her own. I love Lisa’s own answer to the questions, too: “I want to stop having conflicts with people, to feel confident enough in what I’m doing that I don’t need to prove it to the nonbelievers, to be able to determine who is reachable and not worry about those who aren’t, to be curious and kind-ish, and tell the whole fucking truth.” This is a perfect set of guideposts for the year to come, better than any I could come up with on my own. Thank you.
Good Yontif! HaShem has been nudging me to continue to persevere with searching for parents & grandparents of gender questioning/confused youth. This was once a piece of normative child development, no? It is clear that my formal educational experiences, as well as my work/career path to this point has led me to shout, "I am here! I'm a trauma trained, pro human development, reality based clinician in Maryland in the US who is available to work with hurt, confused, angry, bewildered, struggling parents and/or other family members. There are like thinking clinicians; many fear backlash, blackballing, & harassment. Go to GETA (international organization) Gender Exploratory Therapy Association
I’ve seen the trailer and it resonates. I listened to a podcast by the director and he seemed very invested in the topic. My question is, is Epoch TV (their company, Epoch News, provided the funding for the film) reputable?
Thank you and looking forward to y’all’s thoughts.
Lisa and Kate, I am not really sure where to put this but wanted to draw your attention to the fact that Gender Spectrum announced that as of yesterday, 9/27, they are ceasing all direct services programming. There's an announcement on their homepage here: https://www.genderspectrum.org/
I am curious about what this means. My impression is that this org has trained just about every independent school in the Bay Area (and doubtless many beyond), plus healthcare orgs too. I see their name on the trans-related documents used at my kids' schools. Per the announcement they will be maintaining a resource hub so alas their influence won't be going away but still, this feels big.
I'm glad you asked Moomin! I meant with hormone fluctuations at certain ages, children normatively question their feelings because they don't understand them. Some of their feelings may be confusing around gender/sex because no one explains how these hormone surges work to children. There is a lesser known hormone change process that occurs for most kids between the ages of 7-9/10.
I love what you're saying here. Very inspiring. I hope for the same for myself -- less anger, more understanding -- less fear, more faith -- less uncertainty, more confidence. May this coming year open doors for "the message that gender diversity is natural and normal, and to show people that what they think they’re supporting is not actually helping with that mission." I love this!
Basically, what I want to be is in the serenity prayer - serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
I got a lot of notes about hangouts and will respond to them soon! Going a little slowly due to viral infections...
Let's meet up in Portland!
I am also trying to calm down about all this. Since mid summer, I have been trying on the concept that I made it through this with my kids intact and wary of their own generation so it's "not my problem" anymore. I don't believe it, of course, since we are all needed to make society better, but there is only so much I can do and maybe I already did a lot. You certainly can take that stance and remove a bit of the anger and stress, Lisa. You deserve that so much! None of us deserves the anger and stress and the injury that causes to our own health and well being.
Hi Lisa! Your "ping me" link didn't work for me. I'm in Seattle and would love to hang out with you. I've been doing some good work on my personal facebook page, conducting civil discussions on sex and gender identity and specifically on our public schools' gender identity policies. I seem to have a knack for hosting civil discussions on controversial topics among my friends and I would like to share with you what I've done so far. Let me know how I can privately get you my contact info.
Terry
My main goal for the upcoming year is to keep working on self-acceptance and stoicism. Maybe I'll finally get around to fully tolerating my sexual orientation--because while it didn't get me into the trans mess, it certainly kept me locked in for way too long.
Looking forward and not backwards. It’s really hard — even resisting the side-glance into the rearview mirror to see if maybe now…or maybe NOW someone who I felt hurt by can see things from my perspective! Accepting that it doesn’t matter if someone sees things from my perspective— there are consequences of standing in one’s own truth and being strong enough to accept those consequences. Judging favorably. (Or not judging at all!) Self-kindness. Gratitude.
Who do I want to become this year, what do I want to let go of, and what do I want to aspire to? I want to be the fun and sweet, loving mom my girls can easily seek out for comfort and come to for solace and support, I want to let go of the worry and move towards the time where my girls feel ease and our family can breathe again.
Thank you for this exercise. 🩷
Thanks for this, Lisa, I really appreciated your comment and enjoyed reading what everyone wrote. My intention for the coming year is similar to Lisa's - I want to have conversations, not yell at the other side with no hope of them hearing me or me hearing them.
Last week I went to the Million Person March for Children that was organized in more than a dozen cities here in Canada to protest the way gender and sexual orientation are taught in public schools. I stayed for about an hour (then had to go back to work), but I felt conflicted about it because it was literally two opposing sides (the protesters and the counter-protesters) either preaching to the choir or else yelling at each other. If you google it you'll see a bunch of videos and you can see for yourselves the sort of atmosphere that was there. In any case, I was glad I went because I saw this was not a "anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ" protest like the media was making it out to be, and I think we do need to make our voices heard and our stance more visible. But this protest did nothing to promote conversation or understanding or compromise. In fact, the result was the opposite because media spun it as "hateful" and politicians and school unions and universities all called it "hateful", and it made people even angrier on both sides.
So, for my own personal self, I will most likely avoid protests, but I will speak out in other ways, especially to promote conversation and understanding. I am inspired by Julia Mallot, who had a lot of crap thrown at her from both sides, and yet she keeps going with her mission of bringing people together and finding common ground. As a Christian, I will make every effort and take every opportunity to speak the truth in love.
I have one mother & father (pro GAC) for their 20 yo trans son coming in tomorrow. I also separated myself from mass social media platforms years ago, so in terms of reach I'm relying on word of mouth & PITT at this point.
This is the loveliest of threads; every comment is wonderful. With thanks to Lisa, yet once again, for opening this thread, and with a wonderful story of her own. I love Lisa’s own answer to the questions, too: “I want to stop having conflicts with people, to feel confident enough in what I’m doing that I don’t need to prove it to the nonbelievers, to be able to determine who is reachable and not worry about those who aren’t, to be curious and kind-ish, and tell the whole fucking truth.” This is a perfect set of guideposts for the year to come, better than any I could come up with on my own. Thank you.
Good Yontif! HaShem has been nudging me to continue to persevere with searching for parents & grandparents of gender questioning/confused youth. This was once a piece of normative child development, no? It is clear that my formal educational experiences, as well as my work/career path to this point has led me to shout, "I am here! I'm a trauma trained, pro human development, reality based clinician in Maryland in the US who is available to work with hurt, confused, angry, bewildered, struggling parents and/or other family members. There are like thinking clinicians; many fear backlash, blackballing, & harassment. Go to GETA (international organization) Gender Exploratory Therapy Association
I’m near Seattle and just pinged you!
Hi Lisa, I was wondering if anyone here has heard of this film:
https://www.gendertransformation.com/
I’ve seen the trailer and it resonates. I listened to a podcast by the director and he seemed very invested in the topic. My question is, is Epoch TV (their company, Epoch News, provided the funding for the film) reputable?
Thank you and looking forward to y’all’s thoughts.
Lisa and Kate, I am not really sure where to put this but wanted to draw your attention to the fact that Gender Spectrum announced that as of yesterday, 9/27, they are ceasing all direct services programming. There's an announcement on their homepage here: https://www.genderspectrum.org/
I am curious about what this means. My impression is that this org has trained just about every independent school in the Bay Area (and doubtless many beyond), plus healthcare orgs too. I see their name on the trans-related documents used at my kids' schools. Per the announcement they will be maintaining a resource hub so alas their influence won't be going away but still, this feels big.
I'm glad you asked Moomin! I meant with hormone fluctuations at certain ages, children normatively question their feelings because they don't understand them. Some of their feelings may be confusing around gender/sex because no one explains how these hormone surges work to children. There is a lesser known hormone change process that occurs for most kids between the ages of 7-9/10.