They only want to survive and to hope for a future. These kids and their fiercely protective parents want no part of these culture wars. It is traumatic and really hard and they wish it on no one. Accepting being trans for these kids and their families is never a default, go-to position. We must not allow these most vulnerable among us to become collateral damage to anyone’s “culture wars” - from the left or the right. I am awed by the bravery of their parents, especially those from very conservative backgrounds, who have sacrificed so much out of the love only parents can have to help save their kids, as, notably, the conservative governor of Utah eloquently recognized in denouncing an anti-transgender bill. But there are many well-documented instances where from an early age the kid knows they’ve been misgendered.
I’m sure there are instances of kids for whom their trans status may be a phase or motivated by external forces. Culture War,” by Ross Douthat (column, Sunday Review, April 17): Re “ How to Make Sense of the New L.G.B.T.Q.
