Transgender Parents: Negotiating “Coming Out” and Gender Affirmation with Children and Co-Parents

ABSTRACT

This study investigated how transgender parents negotiate “coming out” and pursuit of gender affirmation (GA) with their children and co-parents. Sixty-six open-ended survey responses and 38 one-on-one interviews conducted with Australian trans parents, aged 24–67 years, were analyzed using thematic analysis. The main themes were: (i) Anticipating their Response: “Coming Out” to co-parents and children; (ii) “Having that talk”—Negotiating disclosure of trans identity with co-parents and children; and (iii) Negotiating Gender Affirmation alongside Parenting. “Coming out” was experienced as both vital and a point of vulnerability, with GA necessitating communication and negotiation alongside parenting. Many participants reported significant anxiety before “coming out” to co-parents and children. Children’s age was an influential factor in reaction to changes in parental gender identity, with younger and adult children reportedly being the most receptive. Results are discussed in terms of the reported benefits of pursuing GA for trans parents.

KEYWORDS:

• Transgender
• parent
• gender affirmation
• transition
• family
• coming out

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval statement

Full ethics approval was received for the data collected via the Western Sydney University Human Research Ethics Committee and have been performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by a PhD scholarship.