Trans Love, An honest guide for parents

As a trans* person I see an utter lack of resources that are directed at parents that feel useful and respect a complicated trans* experience. For most things today we just recommend that if you want to know something- you should just do an internet search. This can be a disaster when it comes to your parents trying to access information that is not reflective of your experience, simplifies trans* identity and maybe even gives inaccurate facts.

I have crafted a draft of a guide for parents that's written by a trans* person. I am going to gather feedback from my community and from parents of trans* folks. I am writing an honest, vulnerable and direct guide that will address common issues that come up in ways that don't pathologize trans* people and holds compassion for both parents and their offspring. I will do my best to make sure this guide is simple but accessible to all different kinds of families and communities of color. What will be brought up in the guide will shift the focus from trans* people being the problem and talk about how transphobia and other oppressions affect our community. We will also address real solutions to work on within relationships.

This guide will be available at no cost online as a PDF, available for order via a printed booklet for very little money and we will create empowering posters as well.

I believe artistic design is hugely important to how something is received. Our guide will have graphic design and illustration that will reflect its creativity, passion and vulnerability. It will also look professional and be appropriate for personal relationships as well as medical or counseling environments. My activist colleague, Rae Senarighi has offered their graphic design services at a highly discounted rate. You can see their work here: http://raesenarighi.com/ and they also did the final graphic design of Meet Polka Dot- the first book in a series for gender variant children: http://dangerdot.com/faq-the-polkadot-series/

Funded by Seattle, WA (January 2014)