Experiences of Parent-Advocates of Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Youth

Abstract

There is a need for more research on the experiences of affirming parents of pre-adolescent transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) children. This study explores how parents conceptualized advocacy roles. Eleven parents of TGNC children age 13 and under completed semi-structured phone interviews. Ten parents considered themselves advocates, with digital advocacy being the most common. Advocacy motivations centered around parental concerns. Parents were divided on whether advocacy helped or had no impact on the parent-child relationship. The largest-shared concern was over the right to privacy. These findings have implications for mobilizing parents of TGNC youth as advocates.

Keywords:

• Transgender
• youth
• gender non-conforming
• advocacy
• parenting

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Christina Cole, Sabrina Dixon, Deija Spencer, and Juliet Vapsva, who assisted with this research, and the parents who were willing to share their stories with us.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that would have influenced the work reported in this paper.

Notes

1 The term TGNC is used to be consistent with the general body of psychological literature. However, non-binary, gender-expansive, and gender-creative people also fall under this umbrella.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Grants-in-Aid program awarded to the first author, and the Salisbury University Office of Graduate Studies and Research. Domonique Bush is now at the University of New Haven.