To all the parents

Yeah, you're not the same people you were before your children, and far more susceptible to disinformation and misinformation about trans people.

- Core stats: yes, we're genuinely more likely to be victims than perpetrators. Your friends attack us, and then say it's ok cos we're freaks. Yes, we're more likely to have low incomes and poor housing.

Yes, we're more likely to have lower educational attainment.

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Ok, given this, you're bound to ask: why?

Mostly, the answer is that we're not legally protected from discrimination. This might well be the first you're hearing of this. A lot of people thought that proper identification and the ability to self-identify would change the stigma, but it's not immediately clear whether this has or not. Those things are extremely important, but legal protections are more important.

That puts us on a par with the LGB community, and opens the door to the much thornier political discussion of what 'sex orientation' means in the Human Rights Act for my friends in the kink and furry worlds.

Old people might remember feeling like the gay kid and the eyes that went along with that. It's the same nowadays for trans and non-binary people. One thing that's interesting is that it seems like afab are doing a wee bit better atm in New Zealand, though that is purely anecdotal evidence that I'm simply raising as an embittered amab.