I rarely see news as pleasing as this report about parents supporting a child precociously voicing gender dysphoria. I hope (against all reason) that this may be the first of many such cases.

I am a 58-yr-old male-to-female transsexual. I have been living in my proper gender now for thirteen years. Despite all the excellent therapy I had before, during and after my transition, I am still to this day discovering more and more how badly I was psychologically damaged by the insane homophobia of my upbringing in the fities and sixties. The person I really was -- the little girl, who should have become a woman -- was smashed and destroyed, and finally buried out of sight until I painfully unravelled my dilemma in my mid-adulthood.

How often I have thought what a different world it would be for transgendered people if they could simply be taken at their word, and allowed to live with whatever gender expression they want. I knew at age three that I was not a boy. How much happier I would have been -- and would be today -- if I had been able to live my real life. I will always feel cheated and empty of a great deal of life experience; and damaged in many painful ways.

One family in Florida is not going to change society right away. But by their example, they can illustrate to people, who would like to understand, that the individual of any age is the best indicator and arbiter of who they are.

I always say "I am who I say I am" -- meaning, not who you or anyone else says I ought to be. And to the kid in Florida, I say "Go girl!"

Katherine Collins

late of SanFran

now in Vancouver BC

The bravely public "No Name Given" person insists that a child who expresses Gender Dysphoria may as well wish to be a dog. His argument seems to based on the idea that a young child is "pre-sexual".

But guess what, NNG?! That has nothing to do with it! Gender Dysphoria has nothing at all to do with sexuality. Transsexualism has nothing to do with sexuality. They have everything to do with individual identity and social identity. A person transitions (the transsexual process) not because of sexual desire but because of being misperceived, from the spirit on outward, and treated as somebody who they are not. And that daily misperception is like having your identity erased, and your true self rendered invisible. It cuts like knives.

People who don't know the first thing about Gender Dysphoria ought to keep still and learn, not pontificate like a fool.

And congratulations to Stephanie Guinan, for raising her daughter the way she should be. Stephanie obviously perceives that the child knows best who she is -- as we all do. Most gender identity issues start being expressed around age three, as Stephanie's child's was. She follows a common pattern.

You're awesome, Ms. Guinan!

You are so fixated on the "sexual" aspect of this, you totally fail to understand any of it.

Yes, I wanted to change my body at age five. It didn't occur to me to cut off my own penis, but I wanted it gone.

Your choice of the term "mutilate" amply illustrates your extreme bias in this case. The whole point of gender transition is to live in society as one's self. The surgical aspect of it is a detail -- a gratifying and important one, but a detail none the less.

Repeat -- you don't know what you're talking about. At all.

I will not debate you any further. Finis.

I don't think that Turk is necessarily equivalent to Nigger. It depends what the Turkish people want to be called. Every group needs to be called something, or they won't be called at all. A person from Italy is called an Italian. What should someone from Turkey be called? A Turkey?

Maybe there is a good word and a bad word here, but I just don't know what they are.

-- posted here by a Canuck

I am going to be Ms. Picky word maven. I don't think you really meant that Olbermann's editorial is a "screed".

A screed is a term of criticism, meaning a "long monotonous harangue", according to my dictionary.

Perhaps you meant "peroration". That means (1) a flowery and highly rhetorical oration, and (2) the concluding section of an oration; "he summarized his main points in his peroration".

I'm just doing my bit to turn back the erosion of our language.

Humourlessly yours,

Katherine Collins