REACH ARCHIVES (1994-CURRENT)
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NEW RESOURCES FOR OUR WHOLE LIVES GRADES K-1 AND GRADES 4-6
Trans Forming Families: Real Stories About Transgendered Loved Ones
Mary Boenke, Editor

When the editor discovered how many families reject their transgendered loved ones and how little is published for them, she collected these stories to help them through the learning, adjusting and growing process. Her purpose is to share these experiences and make available some positive family role models for those families who are struggling, in pain, with similar transgender issues. She collected writings by mothers, partners and spouses, but also by fathers, siblings, grandparents and children of trans persons. Trans Forming Families is informative, educational and inspiring. It is recommended reading for Our Whole Lives curricula teachers and leaders as well as parents and caregivers. Through this resources we can learn to question our culture's way of looking at many things as dichotomies - black and white, gay and straight, good and evil, male and female. We learn that we are all somewhere on a variety of continua - between young and old, tall and short, straight and gay, and even in our gender presentation, between macho and very feminine. We need to develop a greater appreciation for the beauty and diversity of nature, a keener sensitivity to our similarities and differences, and a greater sense of our connectedness to all people. Especially valuable for Our Whole Lives Grades K-1 and Grades 4-6 teachers and parents are the chapters on "Raising Gender-Variant Children" and "Learning From Our Children of All Ages."

A companion resource on transgender concerns for Our Whole Lives Grades K-1 and Grades 4-6 is the booklet Our Trans Children. It includes definitions around sexual orientation and gender identity, some commonly asked questions about trans people, and issues of transgendered people. This publication is available from PFLAG Transgender Special Outreach Network. (202) 638-4200. Email: info@pflag.org.

Review by Pat Hoertdoerfer


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