Monday, September 28, 2015

Every Moment is a Teachable Moment

So this weekend GP and I went to Target and we "met" our very first Transgender Teen. A very pretty young lady in customer service who had the booming voice of a young man going through puberty. I had been in line for a little while so I was not surprised when she spoke to me. However, GP had been wandering around and when the girl addressed him he LITERALLY gasped. He quickly caught himself and thankfully whispered," Um, that voice". I pretended not to hear him and finished my business. We walked away and I took this opportunity to talk to him about being Transgender. 
How do you explain being transgender to a developmentally delayed young man? The same way you explain homosexuality. As simply as possible. 
I explained to GP that that young lady was girl who was born a boy, and transgender people are people who are born with opposite sex body parts. So her deep voice was probably just a sign that she was going through puberty and that would change later, when she was older.
He smiled, and said, "Oh, OK. She talks like a boy." I told him, "Some transgender people look like boys but talk like girls. That's OK too." 
He smiled and I kid you not, he said, "I'm going to Newbury comics."... end of story. 
And just like that, we now know that there are boys, girls, gay people and transgender people.
AND it's no big deal. I am so grateful for that young lady, and how she helped me explain what I thought would be so complicated, in such a simple way. 
She's just a girl, that was born a boy and now works at Target. 
And I'm grateful for the way GP accepts everyone, without prejudice. 
If only others would accept him that way too...