Twenty-four mothers, tweny-four stories capture the complexity of coming to terms with the loss of a daughter who has changed sex or an anticipated relationship with a daughter, now a lesbian, who lives in a different world and will lead a different life. This groundbreaking book will help other mothers as well as lesbian daughters and ftm transgender children to understand their own mothers, their changed lives, and their determination to remain connected.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Devastation
1. Hannah: That Child Always Gave Me Trouble
2. Edie: I Hate Myself For How I Behaved
3. Sara: She Wasn?t Going To Be the Nice Little Lesbian I Hoped She Would Be
4. Karen: Gay Was a Piece of Cake
5. Anna: Why Would You Want To Be a White Male?
Loss
6. Elise: She?s a Guy Now
7. Mariam: All Those Weddings, All Those Showers
8. Jenny: He?s Gonna Lose Everything Except His Parents
9. Lisa: I miss The Person He Was When He Was a She
Adolescence
10. Debra: I Felt Helpless As a Mother
11. Rina: Mom, That?s Me, I Am a Boy, Inside I Am a Boy
12. Beth: I Just Don?t Like Labels
Not the Only Issue
13. Lila: I Regret the Kind of Mother I Was
14. Fran: She Took Me on a Ride I Wasn?t Prepared For
15. Naomi: Parents Do Leave Kids on Hillsides
16. Cheryl: Her Lesbianism Is Third In Line
Connection
17. Shirley: God, Watch Over Her for Me, Everyday
18. Lois: Whatever Kind of Relationship He Wants To Have, We Will Have
19. Eleanor: If I Couldn?t Be Supportive, I Couldn?t Be Around
20. Annemarie: You Can?t Hide a Baby
21. Lillian: My child Is Not an Abomination
Activism
22. Marie: She Made Me More of a Person
23. Judith: I Have a Much Happier Son Than I Ever Did a Daughter
24. Martha: Just Expect to See Somebody That Looks Like Your Former Daughter?s Twin Brother
Appendices
