Elaine Davies
There’s no doubt that we live in a brave new world of acceptance around gender and that it’s our children who are leading the charge.
Around 7-years ago, there seemed to be a tipping point with all LGBTIQIA+ awareness but particularly with transgender people and that momentum has kept on growing. Now, in stark contrast to the rigid two gender world most of us parents grew up in, our young people have a new social acceptance and therefore freedom, to explore their gender identities.
Children are increasingly speaking up about their true identities and in the U.S., while it’s reported that younger teenagers make up just 7.6 percent of the total population, they also make up roughly 18 percent of transgender people. Likewise, 18- to 24-year-olds make up 11 percent of the total population but 24 percent of the transgender population.
As nonbinary Dr. Angela Goepferd, medical director of the Gender Health Program at Children’s Minnesota hospital said, “the notion of what it means to live as a transgender person is shifting and many teenagers would no longer necessarily want or need hormones or surgeries to transition to another gender, as was typical of older generations. We ,as a culture, just need to lean into the fact that there is gender diversity among us and that it doesn’t mean that we need to treat it medically in all cases, but it does mean that we, as a society, need to make space for that.”
In Australia, while the proportion of young transgender people is small, their combined voices are loud. Here are some of our amazing child activists who we should be grateful to for making the world a more accepting place.
Evie Macdonald always knew she was a girl but was assigned male at birth. When she was thirteen, she told 9news.com.au, “When I was nine I wanted to die, I would’ve rather have gone to heaven and been a girl than live here as a boy.”
Today, Evie is a celebrated actress and her ABC TV Show, First Day season 2 started on March 31, 2023, which was also International Trans Day of Visibility. Evie said, “I’m so excited to be able to share season 2 with everyone on Trans Day of Visibility. I would love to see something small like people sharing a post or sending a kind message to somebody that they know is transgender. It will always be appreciated. I think the most important lesson I could teach somebody is to never give up. It can be so hard to find a place in this world let alone in the film industry. Unfortunately, there will always be people who try and bring you down but never let that stop you from achieving your dreams”.
Georgie Stone was just 10-years old when she became the youngest person in the country to be granted hormone blockers. This was after she and her family spearheaded the law surrounding transgender treatment. In the landmark 2017 ruling, gender diverse youths were no longer required to go through The Family Court to access hormone treatment – making transitioning much easier.
Georgie was only 14 when she appeared on the ABC’s 4-Corners talking about her experiences in court and has aslo appeared on Australian Story. At 19-years of age, she famously became the first transgender actress on the long running soap opera Neighbours, playing Mackensie Hargreaves and she has her own Netflix show. Most importantly Georgie was awarded the OAM (Order of Australia) in December 2020.
Zoe Terakes is a stage (two Sydney Theatre Awards and a Helpman nomination), TV and film actor of Nine Perfect Strangers and Wentowrth fame. Zoe was a teenager when they came out and since then, their career has thrived but in no small part to their own activism. When Wentworth’s producers earmarked the renewal for the trans character Reb Keane, Terakes penned a letter in the Wentworth On File Book saying that they wanted the show to portray someone living “authentically” and “real”. Terakes was then cast in the career defining role. They are now setting the US movie world alight, staring as the first transgender person to be cast in the upcoming Disney+ series Ironheart by Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Nebo Zisin, is a young writer and non-binary/trans activist who runs workshops in schools and professional development training in workplaces around transgender identities. He was only 15 when he came out as a lesbian and then at 17 began transitioning to male. In May 2017 he published a book about his gender transition and other life experiences, Finding Nebo: How I Confused Everyone, which The Canberra Times described as “impactful and an enriching worthwhile read for everyone”.
AJ Clementine, a Bonds model, writer and content creator is most known as a trans activist for her LGBTIQIA+ advocacy on social media. AJ has sparked a new wave of education and acceptance among young Australians, becoming one of the biggest transgender voices in Australia.
These young people are only the tip of the iceberg of the trans and LGBTIQIA+ upswell that Australia, and the rest of the world, is enjoying. Trans children are just one, very important, cell in the microcosm of our society and they are here to stay and to help us grow.
So let’s not smother them in concern and worry. Sure, a queer child might have to stand up for their beliefs and challenge the world earlier than other children but that doesn’t mean that they can’t enjoy a perfectly normal, fun and loving life. Even a boring one if that’s what they want!
When my child officially came out to me at 13-years old and realised that the sky wasn’t going to fall down, he threw himself at me and said, “Mum, kids get thrown out of home for this” – always the dramatic one! I was blown away by his reaction and said back to him, “but what’s changed? You will still be the same annoying teenager you were a few minutes ago? We will still love each other and fight just like we always have – the only thing that’s changed is that you’ve confirmed something I suspected”. And I was right. That was 6-years ago and we have continued to live a perfectly normal child / single parent relationship with all its mad intensities, full of laughter and squables, ever since.
I look at my son in awe. I’ve never had to come out of anywhere in my life – my gender path has always been predictable and straightforward. I can’t imagine the strength it would have taken to face everyone for the first time, presenting as a male.
Sadly, not all LGBQTI+ children are accepted and loved by us older generation and that needs to stop.
With such a wide generation gap around gender diversity, we now need to turn to our children and allow them to educate us on acceptance and diversity. As the mature adults we are meant to be, we need to encourage all the joy, enthusiasm, wonder and awe that our young people bring into our lives. Let’s face it, they contribute so much fun and life to their families and often, to whomever they come into contact with, that they deserve to live as their true selves and be rejoiced at all times.
