Transgender Children in the Making

Back when a man was a man and a woman was a woman

Last week I was invited to go with friends to Big Sky, Montana, to their condo at the ski resort. I don't ski but the younger people did while my friend and I (we've known each other since nursery school at age 3 in Old Orlando) sat in the restaurant sipping wine. One day we all took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and ate "linner" (lunch/dinner). Later for dinner we had popcorn, blueberries and cheese. One night after a real dinner of elk ribs we went to the bar next door and had fireball shots. I'd never had those before...they taste like cinnamon. Each night in the evenings everyone played the game of Sequence.

It was all so refreshing. Every day there were crowds of children, teenagers and young adults in their colorful ski outfits laughing and having fun in the snow. Not an overt lesbian or homoxesual in sight. No in your face transgender people. No rainbow pride flags dominating the scene. No transgender flags anywhere. Just families having a good time together and college kids on spring break. The hotel valets were in their cowboy boots, jeans and cowboy hat. If we needed anything we'd "ask the cowboys."  

This delightful vacation came to an end and I was back to work. About two hours into my first day back I was confronted by a young father with two small children. Both children, about ages 5 and 7, had beautiful long blonde hair down to the middle of their backs. I said, "Hello, girls." The older one hesitated then replied, "I'm a boy." Then the little one said, "I'm a boy". Looking at the little one who was in a dress and clearly a girl, I said, "You're not a boy. You're a girl." Then looking at the older child I said, "And you're a girl." The older child, dressed in shorts, said, "I am not! I'm a boy!"  The father thought the entire exchange was hilarious and said, "Well, I guess he told you."

I wanted to point out that if the boy was not a girl why does he have hair down to his waist? Does he think it's funny that people think his son is a girl? That the boy constantly needs to declare his gender when others mistake him for a girl? Or was the child really a girl being transitioned into a boy?

Suddenly I longed for the cold fresh air and deep snow of ski mountains, wide rivers rushing by the roadside, buffalo and elk, moose and bears and heterosexual cowboys...even an Indian longing for a scalp.