Transphobia

A few weeks ago while my friends and I were hanging out my friend asked how we would feel if our kid was transgender. This left all my friends shocked because they hadn’t thought about it that much. All of us supported the LGBTQ community but we never thought about our kid going through something so life-changing as that. The answer that popped into my head was yes, of course as long as my kid was happy I was happy and I would support them no matter what. Most of my friends agreed with my statement but there were a few who didn’t. This confused me because they had said they wouldn’t care if their kid was gay but wouldn’t want them to be trans at such a young age. This brought up a question in my mind. Why do some people have no issue supporting people who identify as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, etc but draw the line when it comes to people who are transgender, especially men? In” The Role of Masculinity Threat in Homonegativity and Transphobia” there are a few points made that answer my question. The people who didn’t like the idea of their future child potentially being transgender were all straight men. Much of this hate comes from men being scared that they would be perceived as less masculine. Men that have very fragile masculinity are way more likely to display aggression toward gay and transgender people. This makes sense as to why they wouldn’t want to have a kid that is gay or transgender.