By now, you've probably seen the ads, Public Service Announcements and videos that try to reassure LGBT youth that "It Gets Better." Columnist Dan Savage started the project; since then, a number of celebrities, including President Obama, have made videos bringing that message to You Tube viewers.
So far, we've seen adults giving that message of hope to young people. And, young people have offered it to their peers and those slightly younger than themselves.
However, children and teenagers who are, or believe themselves to be, on the LGBT spectrum aren't the only ones who need to hear such a message. Sabine Bartlett knows that very well.
She was taunted and bullied--but not for being part of the "rainbow" herself. Rather, kids harassed her--to the point that she's now home-schooled--because her mother, who is divorced from her father, transitioned into manhood.
Her mother began that process when Sabine was 13. Now, three years later, she says, "It's hard to face the fact that someone who is close to you changes at all--especially a change that big." She "felt a sense of loss," she recalls, until a year later, when she saw that her mother was "a much happier person."
This sixteen-year-old has some great wisdom to share with any of her peers who might be in a position like hers: "It usually gets easier after a while and, despite the changes, your parent will always be the same person. Only, maybe a bit happier."
So far, we've seen adults giving that message of hope to young people. And, young people have offered it to their peers and those slightly younger than themselves.
However, children and teenagers who are, or believe themselves to be, on the LGBT spectrum aren't the only ones who need to hear such a message. Sabine Bartlett knows that very well.
She was taunted and bullied--but not for being part of the "rainbow" herself. Rather, kids harassed her--to the point that she's now home-schooled--because her mother, who is divorced from her father, transitioned into manhood.
Her mother began that process when Sabine was 13. Now, three years later, she says, "It's hard to face the fact that someone who is close to you changes at all--especially a change that big." She "felt a sense of loss," she recalls, until a year later, when she saw that her mother was "a much happier person."
This sixteen-year-old has some great wisdom to share with any of her peers who might be in a position like hers: "It usually gets easier after a while and, despite the changes, your parent will always be the same person. Only, maybe a bit happier."
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