Having Pride

We were recently contacted asking if we would attend the Philadelphia Pride Parade, it sounded like a perfect chance for Callie to get her feet wet in advocating for herself so we were going to do it. Key words there, "were going to". After hearing about the shooting in Orlando we decided to tell them no and kept our family away from the parade. It's so sad that we have to live in fear because of an act of hate, but this is a reality for our family and so many others. My heart is going out to Orlando right now as I type this, what happened there wasn't fair at all and it was done for no reason other than hate. I can thankfully say our family has never seen this real hate first hand, we may get messages from time to time saying our "son" is a freak or saying we're ruining our child's life but we have never been shot at or threatened. I used to be thankful because I thought that meant our future was getting better and that I didn't have to worry about sending my little girl out in the world, now I know better. Now I know that even though I don't see the hate first hand it's still there. It's still hiding in the dark corners of the world waiting to strike and that scares me so much. I want nothing more than to be able to send Callie to school and have her be herself without worrying if someone is going to kill her just because she's different. I know God made her this way for a reason and I feel in my heart that the reason is to help make a difference in the world, if that means by showing she has pride in herself even though others don't that's fine with me. Raising a transgender child has shown the good and bad in people, some people think that it's the worst thing that can happen to a family and will send us the nasty messages, others will see a picture of my girl and say how beautiful she is. I'm happy to say the people who see passed her being transgender are greater than those who don't, but the ones who don't are the ones who speak their mind the most. I am completely fine with you not agreeing with how I'm raising my child, however, she is my child first and foremost and she deserves every right that we have. Please, if you don't agree with someone don't shoot them. Don't make it so I have to keep my child in a bubble, I want her to be amazing. I want her to have pride in herself, but right now I just want her safe.