30 Comments
User's avatar
WarriorMom's avatar

Thank you, Kara. This means so much and I appreciate what you are doing more than you will ever know. So grateful for you!

Mom First's avatar

Thank you for listening. It’s hard to find people who listen to us. It’s hard to speak and if we could this would be over sooner.

Odette R.'s avatar

I just sent this to the last known iMessage address I have for my daughter (born XX)…She is 13 and I have not had contact with her in over two years for the reasons mentioned in your post. I hope (and pray) she has stopped with the “non-binary” delusion (I still have access to medical records and believe this to be true).

At least she (or someone) has unblocked my messages.

I pray that one day her memories will be deprogrammed. Until then, I let her know I love her and will always be there for her.

Bill Bradford's avatar

....Isn't / aren't "binary", & "non-binary" itself, a BINARY? So when somebody claims they are "non-binary", aren't they simply affirming the "binary/non-binary" BINARY? See what I mean?.... Buddhism speaks of the duality of life, maybe we need more of that DUALITY....

Odette R.'s avatar

100% agreed. Unfortunately, there are (many) other people in her life who propagate the myth of non-binary-ism.

T Averitt's avatar

Thanks, Kara, acknowledgement is helpful on this painful journey. There is so much torture from feeling that I failed as a parent to protect my daughter from the insanity of believing that you can change biology with pharmaceuticals and surgery that mutilates a healthy body, trying to achieve a stereo-type that others will confirm. How has our world gotten to this point?

All that we can do is love our kids through it. I'll always love my children, even through disagreements, and, when everything comes crashing down. This feels like watching a speeding train, racing toward a broken bridge in the distance.

Truth will prevail, I have hope...

Veruca Salt's avatar

Thanks Kara. This post brought the leaky eyes to me as well. I worry about my oldest every single day and the difficult life she has chosen for herself. Not just the emotional difficulty, but now the health issues. They are beginning to mount at the tender age of 32. My heart is broken for her for so many things. It is so hard to watch the child you love continuously self-harm and be completely powerless to stop it. I grieve the life she could have had.

Elise Guidoux's avatar

Thank you for reposting this..i also have no children, but am compelled to stand with parents living this nightmare. My niece is trans, and I have no contact with “him” now. What can I say other than the world has gone mad and I feel for every parent living through this dark insanity. I will never experience their depth of it…but I will hold a light and stand with them through it.

Erin E.'s avatar

I liked that PITT too! To quote Scott Newgent in an old video probably taken down by now "Adults can see around corners"... just waiting for my kid to acknowledge that about me. She's 20 and no medical stuff yet, she just likes pretending to be a boy at college.

Beth's avatar

Thank you for bearing witness to our suffering and the suffering of our children. Very few in society are aware of the devastating affects this ideology has on family relationships.

Eleganta's avatar

I am a parent. Not the parent of a trans-groomed child. But a parent nevertheless.

And I want you all to know that I understand your commitment to your child. I understand the sacrifices, the dedication, the love that still drives you when every other resource is exhausted. I understand the bone-deep desperation to fulfill the promise you made on the day that child was born: "I will protect you from ALL HARM. I will die rather than let you be hurt by ANYONE."

I also see you.

I also fight for you.

And I also will not stop until this nightmare predatory lobby is defeated.

We shall overcome.

Mrip's avatar

We appreciate you Kara probably more than you know.

Helena Handbasket's avatar

This brought me to tears, both the post and Kara Dansky's thoughts on it. As the mother of a daughter who has been IDing as trans for some years now, I live with the constant fear, the knowledge of the harm she is visiting on herself, the waves of shock that crash in on me regularly as I try again and again to understand how other adults in my daughter's life--including those who took an oath to do no harm--are encouraging this path that is so clearly and permanently damaging her. I never cared one bit about what she wore or how "feminine" she was. For me, there was never a level of gender-non-conformity she could reach that would mean she was the opposite sex. The group "women" includes all females, no matter how vehemently they reject societally imposed sex-role stereotypes. That's what we fought for! To have that turned on its head--to be told rejecting sex-role stereotypes means you ARE the opposite sex--just a couple generations after we thought we had thrown off that oppressive yoke, it's very disorienting and feels like a profound betrayal. That our younger generations, and our young women especially, are actively and willingly harming themselves as a response to the world they encounter is so incredibly heartbreaking. I send out warmth, comfort, and understanding to all parents who are also living this hell. It's the worst thing I have ever experienced, by far.

HD's avatar

So with you in this boat. Sending care.

EyesOpen's avatar

Thank you Kara.

And yes: "What should never become normal is teaching a child to despise the people who loved them the most." And sadly, that has happened to many of us parents.