238: Understanding & Supporting Transgender Teens // June & Holly Young

June 13, 2022

Posted in For Everyone, Love Your People, Support the Struggles, Talking about Tough Topics, Teaching Values, Tweens and Teens

How much do you know about LGBTQ topics, particularly about what it means to be transgender?

If the answer is “not much” that’s okay, and I’m so glad you’re tuning in today.

This is a topic that we hear about in the news, often with sensationalized headlines, but the people who are most impacted are average families with average kids, children that go to school with your children and who just want to be accepted for who they are, like everyone else in this world.

I have been blessed to learn so much about LGBTQ topics from one of my dear friends, Holly Young, who has five children, including a transgender daughter named June. I have learned so much from Holly and June and have been reminded all over again that the best way to learn about any topic is directly from the people who are living it every day.

But maybe you don’t know anyone in your real life who is transgender. I didn’t before I got to know June. That’s why to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month, and to help the listeners of 3 in 30 understand more about this topic, I invited Holly and June to come on 3 in 30 today, and they graciously agreed.

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1) Teach your children about what the acronym LGBTQ+ means. Teach them to respect and honor those who are different from them, even if you don’t understand or agree with it.

2) Refer to them by their preferred pronouns and name, even if it isn’t reflected on legal documents or honored by other people. There’s been a lot of talk about pronouns in society recently. Even if you can’t see the importance, they are human– address them as they want, because it’s respectful. It makes a significant different in transgender lives if they are referred to as they see themselves.

3) If you see someone who is transgender being bullied, excluded, or not having their preferred name and pronouns honored, do something. As adults, we may need to do this in conversations or interactions we witness, by just speaking up and saying, “I’m not okay with that” or “I don’t agree” or “Please don’t treat them that way.”

>>>Are these tips about supporting transgender teens helpful? What would you add to the takeaways? Tell us in the comments below.

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