Kiddo just started parroting really transphobic stuff, and idk how to handle it
TRIGGER WARNING
TW transphobia, transphobic talking points, transmisogyny, homophobia . . . . . . . . . .
Ok, so to start out, I’m a single parent of 4 kiddos. Their dad sees them a few hours a week, but they live with me and spend most of their time with me. I just recently came out as nonbinary to my friends, family, kids, etc. It all went really well, actually, and everyone (including my kids) were very supportive.
I was relieved and pleasantly surprised, but honestly, I wasn’t surprised by my kids being accepting, because we talk a lot in our family about discrimination and standing up for minorities, and about lgbtq+ issues in general. Their grandpa is gay, and they love him and his partner, and they know I date men, women, and nonbinary people, and they’ve met and got along with several of my trans and nonbinary friends. So I honestly just assumed everything was fine.
Then just the other day I was having a conversation with my 14yo (my oldest), and out of the blue he started talking about things like, “it just doesn’t make sense to let trans women in women’s sports” and “trans women attack people in bathrooms” and “I do support lgbtq people, but honestly, I think they take things way too far when they protest and it affects other people who just want to get to work or whatever.”
I was completely floored by this—like, I have no idea where it came from. For a while I was trying to be patient and reasonable and show him the data on why the arguments he was making were factual incorrect, but after a while I realized he wasn’t interested in the facts, he was just sure he was right regardless, and I finally just told him I wasn’t going to have this conversation right now.
Three days later, I’m still reeling and unsure of how to handle it. It’s possible he got this from his dad, although it’s probably not all that likely. I know most of his friends, and I can’t imagine this coming from them. I live in Alberta, which is fairly conservative, but even here those are sort of extreme positions.
I’m terrified of where this road is going to lead him, and I just don’t know the best way to handle the whole situation—on top of which, it’s obviously a very personal subject for me, so I’m really not looking forward to having an argument with my teenager as to why I and people like me deserve to exist. I’d love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with something like this, because I’m honestly at a loss.