Parent Advocacy for Transgender and Gender-Expansive Youth

Abstract

Transgender and gender-expansive youth face a multitude of challenges when presenting as their authentic selves. Navigating their families, schools, and communities can be harrowing. Parents play a crucial role in supporting these youth during their gender journey. As the parent of a gender-expansive child, I learned that supporting this population requires a willingness to advocate for change, as simply affirming my child’s identity was not enough to ensure her safety at school and in other environments. This analytic autoethnographic inquiry articulates my experience and personal and professional growth as a parent and advocate for transgender and gender-expansive youth. In alignment with analytic autoethnographic methodology, data include artifacts (i.e., images, field journal entries and personal notes, and other documents), and interview transcripts with persons who are part of my, and my daughter’s, journey. Per the autoethnographic tradition, the results of this study are shared in a storied format. The aim of this piece is to normalize the experience of families of transgender and gender-expansive youth and encourage caregivers and loved ones to pursue positive social change for this population.