Oh, Kathy, no! That's absolutely awful.

Oh, Kathy, how sad! ~ma to your sister and Donna's family.

Oh, Kathy. I'm so sorry for your sister. God.

Mmm. Just had a French dip, and it was pretty good.

It would be pretty hard to allow for medical gender reassignment stuff for teens. Some kids vocalize their feelings from a pretty young age, and I think it would be easier to allow for the suppression stuff if they had been vocal about it for several years.

But later? I don't know. Like ita said, adolescence is a hard enough time to figure things out; I would probably go with being gender-id'd, and I would fight admin on stuff like school uniforms. But, damn, that would be so hard on a kid. But also hard, I think, would be fitting into a hole -- NPI -- into which you don't belong.

I remember the discussions that broke out in the women's shelter I worked at when we decided to let a transgender woman in. It was a hard thing, balancing the need to support this woman, in her need for a safe place, and the other women (as the transgender woman was preop) in their need for safety.

In the end, the staff voted to allow it, which I was glad for, since I had advocated for it, although we did place the woman in a single room, when usually it was catch as catch can, and we counseled her that while the shelter was supposed to be a safe place for women, we needed her AND the other women to feel safe. We, of course, would not talk with the other clients about her, but it was pretty obvious that she was preop transgender, and some clients were angry.

This was in 98, and AFAIK, most shelters are open for transgender women, but not, I think, all. I know that, back when, there used to be the same issue with ZOMG the lesbians! in a shelter! which is much better now, but still.

My first thought was "Wow, it would be great if there were academies for TG teens, so that whole uniform/gym class/non legal name change thing wouldn't be such an issue" but then, of course, that's segregation and a problem in and of itself. I suppose, just like schools are adapting and changing (slowly) to the changing needs of teenagers, it will change.

Remember, girls used to get expelled for being pregnant?

My first thought was "Wow, it would be great if there were academies for TG teens, so that whole uniform/gym class/non legal name change thing wouldn't be such an issue" but then, of course, that's segregation and a problem in and of itself.

I think there are a few schools that cater to LGBT teens.

It's so strange--that's three people I know or whose family members I know who have died in the past few weeks at early ages. Earlier this week, a retiree from work lost her 43-y.o. son to ALS, and a few weeks ago, a 32-y.o. writer we've worked with a lot was found dead in his parents' bathroom while he was visiting for the weekend.

Holy crap, Kathy. That's so sad.

I think there are a few schools that cater to LGBT teens.

The one in NYC was founded specifically for "at-risk" LGBT teens -- a lot of them runaways or kids who'd been kicked out of their homes.

The one in NYC was founded specifically for "at-risk" LGBT teens

That's right next door to my agent's office on Astor Place. Very cool.

Hm. I just read that Marcos Akiaten passed away over the weekend. He was in the The Long Red Road earlier this year (with Tom Hardy). [link]