fig leaves and other accessories

Belatedly in honour of blogging for LGBT families day

Not quite summer, but it's warm enough to eat naked! Give the stain-stik a rest, and just hose down after meals.

(B. asked if she could just eat and run around naked too. Then amended: "Maybe not, since I won't even let you hang my underwear on the line")



B. is doing well after just 24 hours of living with us. She's trying hard to make things work, and to figure out how things operate around here. She has been staying with us for occasional weekends for 5 years now, but moving in for good is a *huge* change for her, and for us.

She's increasingly flexible about the idea that people have genders, but textiles don't. She picked out a wide variety of outfits for LittleE to wear at the church's fashion show tonight. We've had lots of conversations about gender "on the inside" and gender "on the outside". Our "real" gender is in our heads and hearts, and is something that is betweeen us and god - we are each the experts on our own gender, and no one else can tell us that we're wrong. We are each made in god's image - naked or clothed. And although what we wear can be an *expression* of what's inside of us, it's just fabric, and can't *change* what's inside of us.

Our neighbour came out to her last night as trans. Which gives new grist for the mill as we continue the conversation about gender and expectations. He talked to her about how he felt pressured to give their daughter a *girls'* name.

To me, it's telling that even though our communities (and families of origin) are usually very supportive of us in all our permutations of gender and sexuality, there is a lot of pressure to raise "Normal" children (whatever that means). I.e. it is okay that we are queer, but we should really dress our children in gender "appropriate" clothing, and give them gender "appropriate" names.

I'm looking forward to the fashion show. It's going to be a display of the items available from the church's thrift store. And although B ain't never going to fit into the little sequined slippers she'd love to wear, she'll look great in the 2nd hand dresses and men's sandals that we found.