Transgender Through The Eyes Of A Child - Valerie Peyton Kingsbury

These last few days I have been thinking a lot about the transgender experience. The main reason for this is, of course, that tonight I will convene a panel discussion with two amazing women from the community about their experience. I applaud them for their courage and for their willingness to join us in the endeavor to answer some questions and to open some doors.

To Answer Some Questions and Open Some Doors

For those of us who have not walked this path there are many things that we do not understand and perhaps we will never fully understand.

For some of us there are questions of why or how, or when did you know.

For some of us there are questions that link clearly to our faith and the need to understand how faith can inform the journey.

For others of us, perhaps there is just the desire to hear another’s story and discern how we can help to make their journey easier.

For some, for whom this concept is totally foreign, there can be a great struggle to understand, accept, believe that this is a possibility. Some people outright reject that it is even real.

Little Boys Who Become Girls – Through the Eyes of a Child

In the midst of my thinking I received a text, or series of texts from my daughter, Terri. In them she related a bedtime conversation with her son, Jase, who is 5 years old. As I read them the voices of the ancient ones echoed in my mind

And a child shall lead them
You must become as a little child to enter the kingdom

At bedtime, apparently Jase always takes the time to share some insights and to ask questions about the things that have been on his mind. On this particular night it was about little boys who become girls.

Jase said:

“When you are little, your body is a boy but you know in your heart that you are in the wrong body. When you become an adult BAM, now you are a girl and everything is fixed. Yup, poof magic!”

Then he told his mom

“My heart knows I am a boy so I won’t be a girl when I grow up. But the magic is good for someone whose heart wants it.”

Now perhaps this is a very simple understanding of the whole transgender experience but I could not help but wonder how much easier it might be if we could all only see it in this way. You know in your heart that things are not as they should be and then it can be fixed.

And a Child will indeed lead us.

Blessings
Valerie