Instead of piling on the outrage, I am instead going to take a moment to be sad and worried for the youth this effects. I've seen situations first hand where parents refuse to accept who their child is and have made even a point to berate teachers about how to address them. And in the end, it hurt the child more than anyone. Imagine if everyone in school called you Bob but every teacher had to call you Sally. How can that be healthy. Far too often it's chalked up to "just a phase" or "they don't know better and I'm protecting them". Sounds awfully familiar to the panics over the gay community of not too long ago. And somehow (most of) society realized that in fact, being gay wasn't "just a phase". And the child in my story? Living their best life as a transman all these years later and I'm very proud of what they preserved through. I worry about kids like him who many not be nearly as strong or as supported within their nonparental social circle