Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

For this week’s assignment on Gender Identity, I was asked to reflect on the issue. If I was faced with a situation where a family member informed me that they did not want anyone who was perceived as homosexual or transgender caring for or educating their child, I would respond in a manner that is understanding and respectful of their opinion, even if I do not agree with it. I would calmly say, “I understand, however there is no way of truly knowing that of an individual and our priority here is first and foremost, the care and well being of the child themselves”. When it means caring for a child, as long as the professional is doing their job, conducting themselves in a positive manner towards the children and is working towards aiding the child in whatever he or she needs wither it be feeding or changing the child, or overall positive development, that is all that should matter. When it comes to Sexual Orientation and homophobic terms that are offensive, I honestly have not been witness to homophobic terms when it comes to insulting children. If anything, I have witnessed peers when I was younger call each other homophobic terms, the most popular “that’s gay!” or “she’s such a tom boy” but I do not think it was used in a manner of hate, it seemed to be like an ignorant statement and the person saying it, used it as a passing statement, not with any anger behind it. Thankfully I have not heard adults insult their children using these terms but I do know it does happen. This would effect children’s self esteem and self worth as well as their view on what is “manly” vs. “girly”. If they are called any terms such as “gay”, “fag”, “lesbo”, etc, I would envision this child to most likely one day call friends, loved ones or their own children these terms and have a negative way of thinking towards this issue and homosexuals as well. At a young age, if they start hearing these terms and on a repetitive basis, the likelihood of them repeating this behavior becomes very high. In my one and only experience with sexual orientation within my work in the childcare community, I was caring a child who had two mothers. At the time, it was a slight shock to me because I did not come across lesbian or gay parents before, however I was, at the time and still am, friends with many individuals who were gay or lesbian but in a professional manner, this was different, especially that the area was not entirely diverse. Looking back, I do not think I responded differently then any hetersexual family, but I do remember not knowing how to go about issues such as what they called their parents, what kind of roles did they play within the household, such as who takes care of the business or finances when it came to care, or they handled both the fun vs. strict part of parenting, etc. Luckily the area was inviting towards this family and it did not seem like they were alienated in any way, they made friends easily and everyone enjoyed spending time with the family. I did not have any discomfort with this family either, it was more of a new experience I was learning about and treated the family as I did everyone else within the Center, I also continued to care of the child the same way as the other children and acted as if I did not know who their parents were, and ultimately it did not matter, these children were loved regardless.