76. Sweet Baby Queers

Being a parent to a queer child can be nerve racking. Will people accept them? Treat them well? Listener Zoe Gladstone shares that while those worries are present for her, there are also moments of intense gratitude when she realizes how many people out there want to love on her kid. 

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Zoe: I’m Zoe Gladstone, and it’s gonna be okay. Here’s one of the things that makes me think it’s gonna be okay. So I am the parent of two teenagers and one of them is queer. I got their permission to share the story because it relates to them and as the parent of a queer teen, I have spent some sleepless nights.

Thinking and worrying about the legislators in our country that would like to deny trans and queer rights and the people that would prefer that, queer and trans people just didn’t exist. My queer kid is so happy since they came out. It’s the biggest joy of my life to see how their identity’s unfolding.

And I have worried about them, but also I’ve found that by focusing on the things in my community that work or that I can make better, I feel better. And one of the things that works in our community is that there’s an organization called Transponder, and it’s a queer and trans resource organization.

They put on a lot of events and one of the events that they put on is a clothing swap. And the clothing swaps have been a great way for my kid to. Get some free clothing and try on different styles and different gender presentations. And so a couple weeks ago I dropped off my friend and my kid and their friend at a clothing swap and.

There were a bunch of adults there who were running it, of course, and different resource organizations that had representatives at tables. And so I dropped him off at the curb and I made eye contact with someone at a resource table and the expression on his face was so kind, and I felt like what he was conveying to me was, thank you for lending us your little baby queers.

They’re so sweet and we’re gonna take good care of them for the next hour. And I really felt yeah, they are gonna take good care of my kid for the next hour. And I believe, I wanna believe, and I do believe that there are more adults out there that are gonna be just like these people, welcoming, loving, that are gonna take my kid under their wing and.

I also, I wanna believe, and I do believe that legislators do not represent all the feelings of all the people in their constituency. And that there are many people who have the same love and can take good care of my kid when they’re out there in the world. So that’s how I know it’s gonna be okay.

Nora: I’m Nora McInerny and it’s going to be okay.

The IT is always different, and we do want to hear yours. You can send us a voice memo attached to an email — like Zoe did — at [email protected] or call us at 612.568.4441.

It’s going to be okay is a production of feelings&co. You can find all our shows — and our merch — at feelingsand.co

Our team is Nora McInerny, Marcel Malekebu, Jordan Turgeon, Claire McInerny and Megan Palmer.

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