On Tuesday, November 22, my group went to a speaking with Jodie Patterson. Jodie is a mother of an eight year old transgender son. She explained her experience along with her initial reaction. It was really interesting to hear the story from a parent’s point of view. I feel like perspective plays a big role in stories. It seemed like she was a really understanding parent who accepted her son for who he is. That’s really great because that means society is moving forward. She said that when she was younger, she had never really knew what the term transgender even meant. If people are educated at a young age now, it helps them to understand it later. It was really interesting to hear her talk because she talked about what her son’s siblings thought about it. They had no problem with it, but one of his brothers is really into science and he said that no, technically you are still a girl. You just feel like a boy. She said that her son just stood for what he believed in. One question that a parent asked was asking about his school community. Jodie said the school is doing better than it used to be. She told some stories of kids who didn’t understand, or parents who didn’t accept Penelope for who he is. She said that he’s very good about answering questions and telling other people how it is. She then told us why Penelope didn’t want to change his name. He said that he liked his name and it is a name that has run in the family. He said that if people get confused, they could call him Jack, but he likes his name how it is. This story was really inspiring because it shows what young kids can do. He was not afraid to his family or people he knew.
