The Eanes School District of Austin, Texas is in crisis mode. Letters have gone home, and counselors have been made available.
Thankfully, this did not result from a school shooting. Instead, counselors are ready to help fourth graders who may have been "traumatized" after listening to their teacher read an age-appropriate book -- Call Me Max -- about a transgender child.
As a parent, grandparent, former teacher and former youth services library clerk, I cannot understand the mindset of certain adults, who act as if explaining why people are different will result in psychological harm.
LGBT children exist in real life. And when they grow up in loving families, their supposed differences become inconsequential. The other children in those families are not traumatized by them. But they will become irritated with a school--or society--which insists on labeling a family member as disturbed, unstable, or threatening. I like to think of this as the best example of "sibling chivalry."
I'm Jim Kline, and that is my Perspective.
