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Humanity's true superpowers

My name is Robert and I am a parent of a transgender daughter. My daughter, assigned male at birth, grew up in a loving home comprised of mom, dad, and two older sisters.

Our daughter's journey has been tumultuous to say the least. Her physiology (male anatomy) did not match her psychology (female identity). This was a fact of which she was aware at a very young age. She would be brought to the threshold of tears nearly daily when at school she was placed in a line with the boys when her mind was screaming that she should be lining up with the other girls.

It was a personal pain that she harbored as for many years she was unable to find the language that would enable her to share it with us. This dissonance resulted in year after year of persistent bullying at the hands of her school peers. This harassment and mental anguish our daughter shouldered bravely day after day at school, but it haunted her once home.
It was a personal pain that she harbored as for many years she was unable to find the language that would enable her to share it with us. 
Her distress often expressed as rage and self-harm. Filled with shared pain and fear, we repeatedly sought external support grasping at causes for and solutions to her agony. We met the observed struggles with love and support, but we did not gain full awareness of our daughter's situation until she was bullied by her 5th-grade teacher, an event that now appears seminal in setting in motion a sequence of life-altering events.


We removed our daughter from a traditional school setting and began the process of understanding how to home school a 5th grader. Finding herself full-time in a safe and accepting environment our daughter finally found the words to tell us that she was transgender. This disclosure sent us on our own educational journey, as we had no prior understanding of what it meant to be transgender.

Our search for answers did help to some extent but if anything was clear it was that this journey had no existing roadmap. Support and acceptance outside of our immediate family was, at the time, in short supply. In this large, modern city of Atlanta there were less than a handful of medical professionals who possessed a level of empathy that led them to educate themselves and open their minds and their hearts to the prospect of supporting members of the transgender community, whether a minor or an adult.
Determined to keep our daughter from coming to harm either at her own hands or the hands of others, we began the process to support her transition.
Determined to keep our daughter from coming to harm either at her own hands or the hands of others, we began the process to support her transition. There exists a book's worth of stories between the initial step of her social transition at the age of 11 and her gender confirmation surgery at age 17. But the salient detail is that our daughter endured and found joy in the progression to embrace her true identity.

Fast forward to today and she is in the process of signing a modeling contract with a major agency in NYC. We are so incredibly proud of her that mere words cannot express the depth of the emotion. Our pride comes not from her being externally validated but because she is on track to pursue something that she loves. There are many of us in this world that have lost track of our path and aren't walking toward fulfilling a dream.
Despite already shouldering a lifetime of challenges, our daughter has boldly stepped out to face the unknown, be subjected to intense scrutiny, and still dares to believe the best result can happen.
Despite already shouldering a lifetime of challenges, our daughter has boldly stepped out to face the unknown, be subjected to intense scrutiny, and still dares to believe the best result can happen. She is an amazing person inside and out who will accomplish so much in this world. She is on the precipice of this milestone because of her incredible resolve, the support of a group of understanding medical professionals, and the unwavering backing of her family. To strip her and others like her of the opportunity to live truly is an untenable injustice.

Love, compassion, empathy…these are humanity's true superpowers which if embraced erase the limits of our potential.

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