NPR's - Transgender Children report

I thought this report on Gender Identity in Children was fantastic:

Part One:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90247842

Part Two:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90273278

I sent this to NPR and thought I would share it here:

Transgender Children

Has been the most interesting and touching stories on NPR in longtime. As a transgender M2F. I experienced childhood gender confusion at a young age.

Due to the rural environment I was raised in (South Dakota) any expression of gender outside of the accepted binary definition was oft times met with violence. Being a very small male I was oft mistaken for a girl and if I behaved as I felt I was met with ridicule, bullying and violence from not only my peers but my siblings and father.

The first family, who squashes the expression of the child, as advised by Dr. Zucker, I feel are completely wrong on this issue. All they are doing is delaying the expression of the true person. What that first family is doing to that child is misguided and will lead to many emotional issue later in life. I know.

In the first episode this stood out with the child "Bradly"

"He tells me now that he doesn't dream of being a girl..." That broke my heart. This child is trying to please her parents. As I did. I suppressed the desire and denied who I was to make myself safe and fit into the male dominated culture that I lived in...I hid who I was and created a persona that was not genuine...

A child will adopt remarkable behaviors in seeking love and security from parents. The worst fear of any child is one of abandonment by the parent(s). Dr. Zucker's therapy plays on this fear.

So I created a socially acceptable gender expression and I drifted it seemed for many years then became the ambitious career climber everything I did I did with a unreal intensity. But who I was was always there, hidden and secret from everyone. This resulted in all sorts of problems. Drinking, depression, obsession and compulsions, rage and anger...I was very deeply unhappy with myself in the end and it effected my relationships with my Wife and child to the point that I was finally forced into full disclosure. Now almost four years later, I live openly as a male to female transgender person, in therapy and transitioning I am for the first time in my life content. I have a new wonderful relationship with a male partner and I am building new relationships with my former wife and my teen age daughter.

The complexity of this life requires I have no regrets as to how my life was lived, But I know that had I had the support of family and community and allowed to be the genuine person I am now, my life would of been much different. But as I said...no regrets allowed.

Thank you so much for helping bring understanding of Gender Identity and Transgenderism to the public.

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To DU'ers and frequenters of the LGBT board...please take time to listen to the NPR stories.

Truly. Thanks for sharing. I'm going to point this out to my TG buddy.

Sounds like they have great parents. Honestly, I think Bradly's parents are also very concerned.

Funny, though, how all of these were born male. Anyone have reliable statistics on how often it works each way? (Yup, this is something I'm pretty ignorant on, so I'll apologize up front if I stumble in the puppypoo. Just correct me and I can learn pretty quickly.)