Gaslit Guardians: This is what Trans is All About for Us
Much has been said about the pain, confusion, and struggle of being trans.
Here’s what it’s all about in the words and minds of many of their parents:
It’s about seeing things one way and hearing the world tell you it’s another.
It’s about not knowing who you can trust.
It’s about feeling betrayed by many of the professionals you meet.
It’s about having family ripped apart by an issue so divisive that you are not free to speak with your closest family members.
It’s about not being allowed to ask questions.
It’s about navigating something so complex and overwhelming that is historically unprecedented.
It’s about being told you don’t love your child.
It’s about second guessing all your parenting choices.
It’s about being told you can never speak your child’s given name again.
It’s about your history being scrutinized.
It’s about finding it hard to look at old pictures of your child.
It’s about hearing “your son” or “your daughter” and not being able to correct it.
It’s about having your history rewritten.
It’s about being pressured to “do something”.
It’s about being accused of being transphobic.
It’s about seeing this as a very hurtful social trend that is destroying your child but you are treated like the crazy one.
It’s about feeling as if someone kidnapped your child and switched them out for someone else.
It’s about watching your child’s body being damaged by medicalization.
It’s about watching your child destroy themselves bit by bit and being powerless to do anything.
It’s about being told to go along with it or your child will commit suicide.
It’s about knowing that your child has been told you are the enemy and you should be cut out of their life…and they believe it.
It’s about being lonely and isolated.
Many parents have been worn down by the repetitive drumbeat of gender ideology and have tacitly accepted the path of least resistance. Thanks to PITT we have an opportunity to raise our voices above the noise.
Thank you for writing this. No one talks about what this ideology has done to parents mental health and how our mental health has deteriorated and how it has ripped so many families apart. Most days I wake up wishing it is a bad dream but realize no I am living a nightmare. It is a struggle to move forward. If it wasn’t for my faith and other understanding parents I don’t know how I can survive this. Thank you.
Yes. Yes. Yes. I think I have had 3 moments of true joy in the past 2 years--and none were real. Who imagines when they send their kid off to college that they will lose them to a cult which states your parents want to harm you? Who imagines that doctors will harm their adult child's physical and mental health? Surreal reality.