As some of you know, I occasionally work with transgendered youth and their parents. My usual role is as a foster parent so to speak to youth that have been thrown out of their homes. Some of those children never get back home due to their parent’s unwillingness to compromise in their beliefs about transgenderism. It is sad but it happens all too often.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to work with a professional football player and his wife. They have thrown their son out of their home because of his insistence he is not a he but a she. Now let me tell you, it is a little unnerving to have a man that is 6’8” 325 pounds and a professional athlete sitting across the table from you and you are telling him he is wrong in his beliefs. Of course be believes his son was born a male and there is no way in hell that he is anything other than a male.
I asked Dad to describe his youth and how football related to it. He stated that he was born to play football. He would eat, sleep, and drink football from about 6 years old. He would fall asleep dreaming about becoming a professional football player. The first thing in his mind in the morning was about becoming a professional player. Everything he did was geared to one day becoming a football player. Becoming a professional player was what was important to him.
I asked him, what if instead of being a football player it was important to be a girl? What if you had ate, slept, drank, and dreamed of nothing else but one day becoming a girl? What if becoming a girl was the most important thing in the world to you and you had a mountain of a man telling you it was never going to happen. What would you do? What if every day I told you no, you can never be a football player. What if at 13 years old, I kicked you out of your home because you wanted to be a football player and I said no way in hell that would that ever happen.
All of a sudden you could see the light come on. The tears started rolling. He could not believe the comparison between the two. He couldn’t believe he was actually taking something so important away from his son.
In short, our meeting lasted another 4 hours. We talked about everything trans related. I think as a family they are going to be alright. I gave them my phone number for the times when it gets rough. I would be glad to help them through the hard times that we all know are yet to come. Mom and Dad will be starting therapy and their daughter will be starting a new life and therapy of her own.
You are one great lady!
Rachel Smith May 2017
