“Hello, will you be my boyfriend?” “No, I won’t. I am not a boy, I am a girl.” Someone might get surprised to hear that. This is a mysterious world. The God created a lot of creations which are different than each other. By nature, a girl can look like a boy or a boy can look like a girl. People might get confused about it. Do you think that it might create a problem in understanding other human being when a girl supposed to look like a girl, but she looks like a boy or vise versa? It can create a problem for big time. Since we are human being, we supposed to treat another creation of the God with love and respect. According to the article “From He to She in First Grade”, writer Laurie Frankel wanted to show how parents are considering and accepting decision about a transgender kid. Laurie Frankel was trying to support her transgender child to make his or her own decision about clothing choice. I do agree the way writer wanted to help her transgender child.
Children can grow up fast, but their brains don’t mature as fast. It takes time to develop child’s brain to make a proper judgment about life. I have seen surrounding people have tendency to make judgment when parents are allowing their children to make their own decision. Writer wanted to help her transgender child to be enlighten in the society. Just like other normal child’s parents, she tried to provide enough support to her child. Since this child has transgender issue, just like another parents, she also got worried about. She wanted to get an opinion about clothing choices from her kids. She wanted to make sure that her child feels good about his own clothing choice. Just like another parent, she did not differentiate a child based on gender. She thinks child should wear any clothing whatever child likes and feels comfortable to wear. The writer thinks that transgender parents are considering a transgender child can wear skirt in a school since it makes them happy and comfortable. It revels writer minds setup that she wants to send her child to school even different clothing choice for a transgender child. She also wrote an email to the school teacher about her transgender child. The school teacher was also showed supportive attitude when writer stated, “She promised to support our child no matter what” (Frankel 585). Even though, writer and teacher showed positive attitude towards the transgender child, she was getting worried about the attitude of other students in the school. Sometimes other children might tease transgender child because of their different clothing choice. In addition, society also sees it different way when a transgender wear opposite gender’s clothing. However, writer and her husband never had any negative opinion about clothing choice of child based on gender. Writer was very much aware to teach to her child to make answer in an awkward situation about dresses. She taught her child to answer like this statement, “You wear what you’re comfortable wearing. This is what I’m comfortable wearing” (Frankel 586). According to the article, writer allowed her child to feel the way he feels about himself. Writer states that, “She stopped telling people she was a boy in a skirt and started being a girl in skirt instead” (Frankel 587). Its always better to have own freedom.
Does every single society consider transgender in an equal away just like another human being? No, not at all. I have learned that different society, culture, and country consider transgender in different ways. I was reading an article from aclu.org states, “A few federal courts have ruled that the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law bars the government from discriminating against people based on their transgender status or gender transition”. Moreover, most states in United States are trying to recognize transgender people. The United States of America is trying to make sure to have equal opportunity for every single citizen and gender of this country. A transgender person can marry another transgender or a normal human being in The United States of America. However, most of the countries in this world are not recognizing transgender people a normal human being. In the Native American tradition, they used to believe that a transgender person has Two Spirit. In Indian Subcontinent, they called transgender people as Hijra. As I am from Indian subcontinent, I have seen that they always consider them as burden of the society. People are always trying to avoid not only transgender people but also their family. Transgender people are not welcoming in schools, jobs, or any religious institution. However, these situations are changing in positive away. There are different Non-Government Organization are coming forward to help these people.
According to Human Rights Campaign, “Only 18 States and District of Columbia prohibit employment and housing discrimination based on gender identity”. Unemployment rate in transgender people is high. Employers are not considering not only as good worker, but also, they would like to avoid risk future conflict with regular employee in the organization. This group of people are also facing harassment of being considered as mentally ill, socially deviant and sexually predatory. This group of people are also facing anti-transgender violence. According to the 2013 National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) report, “Hate violence against lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and HIV-affected (LGBTQH) communities, 72 percent of the victims of LGBTQ or HIV-motivated hate violence homicides in 2013 were transgender women, and 67 percent were transgender women of color.” Even though Frankel did not talk about these issues in the this article, but these are related in a transgender life.
My Opinion, we all are creation of the God. As a normal human being, Transgender also should be considered as a human being. They should be treated equally just like another human being. The article “From He to She in First Grade”, by Laurie Frankel supports my opinion about transgender child. The government should come forward to take initiative to create a better law to protect transgender rights. Only parents are the side of a transgender child in their all situations. May be one day we will have a world where every single human being will be created equally.
- “Know Your Rights: Transgender People and the Law.” Aclu, Aclu, 1 June 2016, www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/transgender-people-and-law.
- “Understanding the Transgender Community.” Hrc, Human Rights Campaign, 1 Feb. 2019, www.hrc.org/resources/understanding-the-transgender-community.
