Category: Modern Parenting

Rainbow Kids: Don’t Quit. We’re Fighting For You

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Republished on The Huffington Post 

Dear Trans Kids,

I’m writing to you, but not just to you. I’m also writing to all the rainbow kids, whatever you call yourselves, however you identify. I am writing to you as an American-born, white, straight, cisgender, liberal Christian mother of three with a good education, a good job, three good kids, and a good husband. What do I have to offer you? My unconditional love and my unwavering support in a battle for your rights – a battle that with “45” in office is only just beginning.

You don’t know me, but I’ve been advocating for you for the past nine years.

My youngest child is a boy who Continue reading →

Birthday Blues and a Review

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On Tuesday, Charlie turned 11. This should’ve been a joyful day, but I could tell something was wrong when he got up. He seemed distant. We went to school and went on with our days. Matt came for Charlie’s lunch at school and we all sat together with a good friend that Charlie picked. Matt brought McDonald’s and cupcakes with neon colored frosting. When it was time to pass out cupcakes, Charlie and his friend gave one to everybody in the class, but Charlie did not want one. Very strange. They took the rest of them upstairs to share with the teachers. We hugged goodbye and I Continue reading →

The Comments Section

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Republished at The Huffington Post

I’m a blogger and op-ed writer. I write essay-style, non-fiction pieces pulled from my every day life experiences and opinions. (Note that I used the words blogger and op-ed writer, not journalist, not novelist, not poet laureate.) I write opposite the editorial pages. And I write on polarizing topics like LGBTQ+ issues, gender, racism, and white privilege. You can find my work here on Huffington Post, here on Scary Mommy, and also here where someone wrote about me, here on The Good Men Project, here at Red Tricycle, and here with the NBC Today Parenting Team, to name a few.

Sometimes at night, I’ll be in bed, scrolling through my social media feeds when out of nowhere I see my own words in syndication, like this: 259

This was a piece I originally Continue reading →

‘Gender Creative’ is Not the New ‘Hipster’

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Republished at The Huffington Post

They’re everywhere. Gender non-conforming, gender diverse, gender variant people. From cisgender men wearing “man buns” to cisgender women dressing “dapper,” gender ambiguity seems to be the hipster thing now – especially among the Hollywood elite. Hipster culture via gender expression may have been living outwardly on the fringe for quite some time, but it wasn’t until about 2013 or so when gorgeous cis, hetero men my age like Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix became one with the love-it-or-hate-it “man bun” hairdo. Continue reading →

Alone in a Crowded Park

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Republished under the title ‘Why I Worry When I Take My Gender Creative Son to the Park’ on Scary Mommy, and also at The Huffington Post

I have been sitting here at the local community park for over an hour, on this bustling, crisp October afternoon. I have counted at least forty-five children running, playing, shouting, and swinging. Two young girls skip right beside me, sweetly singing and holding hands. I feel the fresh air penetrate my pores in their swirling aftermath of sand and dust. A brother and sister team of around four years old are blowing loud raspberries at each other on a perpetual loop and fist-fighting. Dad looks up from his smartphone once and says, “please stop.” They don’t. He looks back down at his phone. I immediately recognize and empathize with the feeling of defeat. Continue reading →

Supermodel

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Last night I felt like I was watching a champion: my child. He is taking part in the beginning stages of a movement much bigger than him, a timely expression of art by the amazingly brilliant artist, Libby O’Daniel. It is set for release to the public in January of 2018. I believe it will be ground-breaking. Gender creative people are suddenly owning their wings and taking flight, and it’s time for the world to see.

O’Daniel’s artist statement is that her work is a visual journal of her experiences as one who exists somewhere between feminine and masculine. I just realized after having connected with her that she, like me, is a fellow Meredith College alumna. (From that alone, I knew her education was solid!) She finished up a studio residency at Golden Belt in Durham  last spring, and was subsequently awarded one of the two Regional Emerging Artist Residencies at Artspace in Raleigh. In May, she was named the “artist to watch” by ArtsNow, the digital home for the Triangle arts community. Continue reading →

Gender Creative 101: What Is It?

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Last night I hosted my first Facebook Live video, titled Gender Creative 101: What Is It?Although it was live, it can be viewed anytime after it’s posted. So far it has reached a total audience of 712 people. This is great. We are trying to make a topic that may have been “taboo” in the past more mainstream as we seek to understand and support these gentle gender creative and transgender souls. Maybe out of all of this we will realize there’s actually a third gender that needs to be recognized. The video can be found on my public Facebook page: Martie Sirois, Writer. I am sharing it here as well. You can still chime in with questions, which I’ll be happy to answer directly, if time allows, or on my next Facebook Live feed.