Jonathan Skurnik

The Family Journey: Raising Gender Nonconforming Children follows the journey of the parents and siblings of young people who are questioning if they're a boy, a girl, or something in between. What about your thinking needs to change? How does your whole family come together to nurture and support them? The frank, vulnerable interviews with families living through this potentially scary transition demonstrate how loving and accepting your gender nonconforming...

Jeff's father is intolerant of and rageful towards his son's imperfections, while his mother never discusses her own childhood stutter. As a teenager, Jeff turns to alcohol and drugs to mask his shame, and eventually marries an alcoholic who interacts with the outside world for him. After his wife gets sober, Jeff discovers the stuttering self-help community and embarks on a healing journey of sobriety, self-acceptance and forgiveness.

The school brought in the staff of Gender Spectrum to provide training for teachers and administrators as well as an age-appropriate curriculum for students. During this step, everyone involved was empowered to look at their own personal confusion, bias and feelings around gender. Parents are brought into the mix next, and add to the spirited discussion about creating a safe place for all of our children to be themselves. A week of classroom activities...