To the editor:
“Give me Liberty, or Give Me Death!” is how Chuck Maclearnsberry concluded his letter to the editor, last week, bemoaning the Vanity Fair cover featuring an Annie Leibowitz photo of Caitlin Jenner’s transgender transformation.
In response, as the mother of a young person who is now identifying as transgender,
I begin my letter with a quote from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin [or by whether something does or does not dangle between their legs] but by the content of their character.”
I am not saying I was free of judgment when I saw that Vanity Fair cover of Caitlin, because I was not free. And I’m not saying adjusting to my offspring’s new—external—identity has not been challenging, because indeed it is challenging.
But, I am saying that examining and talking about my questions and judgments with my offspring is very fruitful; s/he is helping me to understand the sorts of internal and external struggles one can experience when one’s external appearance does not match what one knows of oneself internally. S/he is helping me to understand that publicly acknowledging one’s transgender nature helps alleviate feeling inauthentic and trying to be something one is not.
I am also saying that what I have seen, and what I know, of those people who work and/or socialize with my offspring. Those folks are interacting with my offspring as a human being first and as transgender person second, if at all. In other words, they are judging my offspring on the content of my offspring’s character, period. I am so heartened by this!
Mr. Maclearnsberry, out of judgmental frustration, suggests we secede from the nation and thus, essentially, wall ourselves in.
But it is my hope that the open-minded, open-hearted approach — to those who may appear externally as “other” — will radiate out from our wonderful community. We can do Martin Luther King Jr. proud!
JENNIFER MERRILL
Bainbridge Island
