Thursday, April 26, 2007

too serious an issue to have a pun for a title

I just read an interview from Advocate.com with Barbara Walters on her upcoming segment of "20/20" on transgender children and their families. It wasn't so much that Babba Wabba was covering this issue on such a widely-watched news show that made me cry. It was more about my admiration for people--no matter how young--who know who they are and thus know who they definitely are not. To come to terms with, embrace, and feel comfortable with one's transgender identity, as Barb says, takes a lot of courage. To read about how these parents have embraced their transgender children has given me hope.

But having said all this, I think the last line of the program ("No one can imagine what these special children go through to be who they are. They and their families struggle simply to be accepted. What if, one day, your child said, 'I am in the wrong body'? Could they accept it? Could you?"), which Barbara thinks is compassionate, is rather sensationalist in a National Enquirer sort of way. I understand it's supposed to make viewers reflect on their own lives, but it falls flat on me personally. I know what my answer would be to my child.

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