Have you ever wondered how you can come out as transgender?
If you’re a student at John F. Kennedy School in Somerville, Massachusetts, then your school library has a book that answers that question.
The kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school library’s collection features the 2017 bookComing Out As Transgender by Corona Brezina, according to an online database. The book is a guide for those interested in coming out as transgender.
An accessible guide to coming out to family and friends, this title provides transgender readers with insight about what steps to take when thinking about coming out. It addresses how to answer questions that friends and family might ask as well as the potential steps involved in a gender transition. For trans allies, this resource is a useful tool to understand how to be supportive of a loved one during their journey to express their true gender. Readers also will learn how to fight back against transgender discrimination at school and in their community.
A NewBostonPost reporter obtained and reviewed a digital copy of the book.
The titles of the book’s chapters are: “Coming Out To Yourself,” “Making A Plan,” “Coming Out To Family And Friends,” “Dealing With Reactions,” and “The Social Transition And Beyond.”
The first chapter states that sex and gender aren’t the same thing, and that being transgender isn’t just about going from male to female or female to male.
The book says that there are many different genders and that people can be multiple genders at once. Here is what it says on that topic:
Other trans people identify themselves as neither male nor female. Gender can be viewed as a spectrum between male and female. Some people place their gender somewhere on the spectrum or completely reject traditional gender categories. They may label themselves gender variant, genderqueer, gender fluid, pangender, intergender, trigender, polygender, multigender, or all-gender. Trans people who identify with both male and female traits may call themselves androgynous or bigender. Those who reject gender designations may describe themselves as genderless, nongendered, gender-free, or agender. On the other side of the spectrum, some trans people reject highly specific labels. These trans men and trans women identify simply as men and women.
In the “Making A Plan” chapter, the book tells children that the first people they should tell about their nontraditional approach to gender are people close to them who they feel will be supportive of their decision. It also tells children that they should try to gauge others’ opinions of transgender people if they’re unsure how a certain person will react.
Before making the decision to come out, confirm in your own mind that you’re doing it for the right reasons. Questioning one’s gender identity is a process that shouldn’t be rushed. You should be comfortable in your own skin before you have to explain your gender identity to others. You shouldn’t come out because of pressure from friends, to provoke a reaction, or to draw attention to yourself. Try testing out reactions ahead of time. Casually bring up the topic of transgender issues to your parents, for example, or start a discussion about a transgender celebrity with your friends to learn their opinions. In this way, you can gauge whether you’re likely to have a supportive home environment and safe conditions at school.
When discussing how to come out to friends and family, the book tells children to avoid coming out as transgender in high-stress parts of the year, including holidays.
It also tells children that if they’re uncomfortable to speak about coming out, they should write people letters. Here is what it says:
Consider writing a letter telling people about your gender identity. Some trans people choose to come out through a letter or online communication. If you decide to tell your family and friends in person instead — and this is probably the better course of action when dealing with those closest to you — composing a letter will help you get your thoughts together. You might want to give them a letter after you have the conversation to reassure them that everything will be OK and tell them how much you would appreciate their support.
Meanwhile, the chapter about dealing with reactions warns children that unsupportive parents may kick them out of the house — and that they should have a plan to move out before they come out to their parents. Here is what it says:
If you think there’s any danger that your parents could cast you out or turn to violence when you come out to them, plan ahead for that contingency. Arrange beforehand to stay with a friend if necessary. Have a bag packed with essential items in case you’re forced to leave home quickly. Look up youth shelters that are LGTB friendly and find out if there are any organizations in your area that could help you. Make sure that you have enough money to support yourself financially for the short-term. Even better, save up ahead of time in case you end up living on your own.
The final chapter of the book is about transitioning and informs children that they can use puberty blockers to prevent themselves from going through puberty and developing further as mature members of their biological sex. Here is what it says:
During adolescence, puberty begins to bring about drastic changes in teens’ bodies. These include development of visible traits — girls develop breasts; boys acquire facial hair, Adam’s apples, deeper voices, and more masculine facial structures. These are all features that transgender people may choose to have surgically altered later in life. Some transgender teens choose to delay the onset of puberty by taking hormones called puberty blockers. The effect is reversible, and puberty resumes once the blockers are stopped. Delaying puberty gives trans teens an extended opportunity to explore their gender identity before physical changes occur.
Massachusetts Family Institute communications director Mary Ellen Siegler says that even one school in a district having the book is one too many. Siegler told NewBostonPost by email:
Alarmingly, an increasing amount of books with sexual and activist themes, especially around transgender ideology, are being included in elementary school libraries or are being read to very young children in the classroom. These books indoctrinate children in unscientific transgender ideology, groom them toward diverse gender identities, and train them to be activists for controversial social and cultural agendas. A book like Coming Out As Transgender also brings separation between a child and their parents, by influencing the child to think that if a parent does not affirm their gender identity they are not an “ally.” The idea that sex can be changed is a lie. Sex is an immutable characteristic. Parents do not send their children to school so they can be encouraged to rebel against their family values or turned into activists who push ideological lies. The Somerville school district should remove this book from their library immediately.
John F. Kennedy School principal Mark Hurrie, school librarian Scott Oskin, and Somerville Public Schools superintendent Mary Skipper could not be reached for comment on Monday or Tuesday this week. Nor could Brezina, the author.
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