Extra credit blog

Yesterday I was flipping channels when I came across and interesting documentary on the LOGO channel.

For those of you who may not know, LOGO is a channel dedicated to content related to gay and lesbian affairs, as well as other diverse groups that some might consider sexually deviant. 

The documentary that was on was called "My Mums Used to Be Men" and it was about a girl whose parents became transgendered while she was a child. The girl has been estranged from her biological mother, and her biological father and his partner are both men that became women. All of this happened when she was in between the ages of 6 and 8, and she is set on setting the world straight about her unconventional family.

For a while, Louise (the young girl), was in the center of a media frenzy. However, she is very happy with her family life, and contends that she would not change a thing. When her father (now mother) explained to her at a relatively young age that he had always felt he was a woman, Louise said she understood. According to Louise, her family seems organic and natural, and she would not wish to be more conventional.

I think its great that Louise was able to have such a positive experience with a parent deciding to go through a sex change. Its clear that Louise and her family are very open minded, and I wish her the best. 

I think that its very unfortunate that some people would consider this perverted or wrong. I also think that many people might have a problem with the fact that Louise's father decided to do this while Louise was at such an impressionable age, rather than waiting for her to be older.  I, on the other hand, feel that it is ok because he went over the procedure with her daughter before actually going for it. For all we know, if she weren't ok with it, he wouldn't have gone through with it.

With these sorts of situations, the most important thing is to be open. I don't think that this would have been an OK thing to do if Louise was not comfortable. I think that the children come first, and when you bring a child into this world they become the priority, and that putting unnecessary burdens on them isn't fair. It would be ok if she was born and he had already changed his sex, but if she is a young child, I think the fact that he discussed it with her prior to his procedure is very important. 

I do think that something like this can destroy a child. I'm glad that Louise is strong, confident and accepting. Still, I think a child comes first before a parent's lifestyle choice, and that they are certainly a priority over a sex change procedure if they are not OK with it. What do you think?