I have three boys. One thing I have tried to make clear throughout their lives is that by virtue of being born white, male and in America, they are automatically in the most fortunate 1% of the world’s population. I want them to understand this not to feel bad about it, but because I want them to realise that no one chooses or earns or necessarily deserves the circumstances they’re born into. And that part of living a life of privilege and good fortune is caring about, and for, those who don’t have the same advantages. I’ve even tried to apply this thinking (with some success, although possibly not enough) to understanding why people who voted for Donald Trump believe he will help improve their lives.
Depending on what statistic you read, the attempted suicide rate for transgender teens is between 30 and 50 % vs. about 17 % for students in grades 9-12 in general. While I don’t have first-hand experience of it, I am willing to believe that having to struggle against everything society expects just simply to be who you are is a long, arduous and terrifying process. And to me, the right to comfort and safety for the person enduring that trumps my right to decide who pees in the next stall. Not a legal argument, perhaps, but laws do, or are supposed to, have their roots in morality.
I really want my children to understand that being part of the majority does not give you the right to decide that what we enjoy as basic human rights don’t apply to the minority. I honestly don’t see how this is any different from the people who believed African Americans should stay at the back of the bus? I suspect most of them made the same arguments about violence and fear, separate but equal.
Depending on what statistic you read, the attempted suicide rate for transgender teens is between 30 and 50 % vs. about 17 % for students in grades 9-12 in general. While I don’t have first-hand experience of it, I am willing to believe that having to struggle against everything society expects just simply to be who you are is a long, arduous and terrifying process. And to me, the right to comfort and safety for the person enduring that trumps my right to decide who pees in the next stall. Not a legal argument, perhaps, but laws do, or are supposed to, have their roots in morality.
I really want my children to understand that being part of the majority does not give you the right to decide that what we enjoy as basic human rights don’t apply to the minority. I honestly don’t see how this is any different from the people who believed African Americans should stay at the back of the bus? I suspect most of them made the same arguments about violence and fear, separate but equal.
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