Friday's entry in the New York Times editorial staff's Transgender Project was Families Share Stories of Raising Transgender Kids.
Among those kids highlighted was Avery Jackson (apparently also known as AJ) a 7 year-old transgender girl from the Kansas City, MO area. Avery insisted that she be allowed to make a video for submission to the story wall.
When I was born, doctors said I was a boy, but I knew in my heart I was a girl. Even though I was a girl, I was afraid to tell my mom and dad, because I thought they would not love me anymore or throw me out or stop giving me any food or anything.
--Avery
When I started to dress like a girl in preschool, my friends were cool with it, but their parents weren’t. They thought it was contagious, like Transgender Pox or something.
--Avery
Avery's mother, Debi Jackson made a speech last summer, That's Good Enough, which went viral. How could I not share this on Mother's Day?
Avery did not write the essay accompanying the video. She's just 7. Her father assumed that duty
During the last year some of you were introduced to my wife, who inadvertently has become a fierce advocate for LGBT youth, thanks to a speech she gave regarding our love for our daughter. Recently, our daughter has asked us to let her tell her story — in her own words, because she is proud of who she is and wants to help other kids like her to “change the world.”
I only tell our story because there are those who are uninformed about what it means to be transgender or who think that we as the parents are forcing this on our child. I can assure you that this is not the case. The one thing that I impart upon my daughter is very simple: Love yourself and show love to others. That is exactly what I intend to do. I love my daughter for who she is without preconditions, and I promise to help nurture her into a becoming a happy, healthy and productive member of society. After all, isn’t that our job as parents?
--Tom Jackson