Barbara Walters, Transgender Kids, And 20/20
April 28th, 2007 by Autumn SandeenI’m struggling to find words to descripe my feeling on watching this show. Frankly, my eyes teared through much of the program, and I sobbed through parts where Riley talked about her feelings about herself and the bullying she experienced at school.
I’ll probably respond with some collected thoughts tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some links to ABC’s 20/20 special on transgender kids:
‘I’m a Girl’ - Understanding Transgender Children
Transgender Children Face Unique Challenges
Posted in LGBT, always the bathroom, politics, prejudice: racism-sexism-homophobia-transphobia-etc, transactivism, transgender, transyouth, youth |
April 28th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
Hi Autumn,
Yeah, I feel the same way. It was pretty emotional and I’m not quite sure what to say but I’m going to try on my blog sometime tonight. I thought that Jazz and Jeremy seemed very well adjusted and I think the future is very bright for both of them. Jazz has just unbelievable parents and because of that she may just pull this all off.
As for Riley, well, I worry about her. She has obviously had a pretty miserale life and things don’t seem much better. I could tell that her parents are just heartbroken and aren’t quite sure what to do. I do agree with delaying puberty for the time being and waiting on taking hormones.
I do wonder however why doesn’t the school system maybe see about transfering her to a new school where she can get a fresh start. I don’t see any problem with her totally passing as a girl and it just seems like a new school would really help out.
That being said, I just don’t know how things will turn out for her. There was a tremendous amount of saddness in her eyes as well as a lot of anger and maybe even self loathing. I just want to give her a big hug and tell her that it’s going to be okay.
Finally, I thought that Barbara Walters was magnificent and I applaud her. Also, the comments from viewers seemed to be pretty good, with a few notable exceptions. I wish them all the best and I wish I had had the courage to do what they are doing at such a young age.
Kelly
April 28th, 2007 at 8:56 pm
I’m sadly in agreement with Kelly. And it’s not just from the 20/20 show; there are some photos of her and the others behind the scenes at ABC GMA and she isn’t smiling in any of them.