Keywords:
gender, sports, legal issues, parenting, safe space, social justice
gender, sports, legal issues, parenting, safe space, social justice
*When Tara contacted Dawn to ask her if she approved of the way Tara used her words in a chapter in Tara’s book, Teaching Gender and Sexuality at School, out in early 2019, Dawn gave Tara an update of how her family was doing. Since her interview in November 2016, Dawn has gained full custody of her children. Her daughters have switched schools, and the new school accepts her younger daughter as trans. Dawn says it was a non-issue for the school. Dawn’s younger daughter uses her chosen name and the girls' washroom at school. None of the other children know she’s trans. Overall, Dawn says, school is a much safer place now for both her daughters.
Transcript
Dawn: And I don’t think that sports teams should be divided by gender for such young kids. Because my child hasn’t, like she used to do soccer, but she hasn’t done it in a couple years, because like, six, seven, eight year olds, they don’t need to be divided by gender. And if she goes on the boys team, then it’s hard because I feel like I can’t call her by that name. And if I register her on a girls team, then her dad won’t take her. So it’s also to think that just having a law in place doesn’t mean that it can work for everyone, because I know legally she can go to brownies and legally she can go on the girls’ sports team, and legally she can do all these things, but if the other parent won’t take her, or if the other parent is going to abuse her emotionally abuse her for being on the girls’ team, then it’s still not going to be safe. So there’s all these different situations. Like it’s good that the laws have changed, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be safe for everybody. And you can’t really tell whether spaces are safe by who’s there, you can only tell by who’s not there. Because if nobody is there, then you haven’t done a good job. Like the parenting groups here, a lot of it is a lot of white people. So I know that isn’t really reaching out to all people who identify as queer and trans, because I’m thinking it’s not a super safe space for people who are more economically marginalized or people of colour. So there’s always room to improve, but you don’t find it out by canvassing people who are in the group. I’m a social justice warrior, what can I say?
Transcript
Dawn: And I don’t think that sports teams should be divided by gender for such young kids. Because my child hasn’t, like she used to do soccer, but she hasn’t done it in a couple years, because like, six, seven, eight year olds, they don’t need to be divided by gender. And if she goes on the boys team, then it’s hard because I feel like I can’t call her by that name. And if I register her on a girls team, then her dad won’t take her. So it’s also to think that just having a law in place doesn’t mean that it can work for everyone, because I know legally she can go to brownies and legally she can go on the girls’ sports team, and legally she can do all these things, but if the other parent won’t take her, or if the other parent is going to abuse her emotionally abuse her for being on the girls’ team, then it’s still not going to be safe. So there’s all these different situations. Like it’s good that the laws have changed, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be safe for everybody. And you can’t really tell whether spaces are safe by who’s there, you can only tell by who’s not there. Because if nobody is there, then you haven’t done a good job. Like the parenting groups here, a lot of it is a lot of white people. So I know that isn’t really reaching out to all people who identify as queer and trans, because I’m thinking it’s not a super safe space for people who are more economically marginalized or people of colour. So there’s always room to improve, but you don’t find it out by canvassing people who are in the group. I’m a social justice warrior, what can I say?