A lot of us were the boy who liked girls as friends, hated the locker-room script, and still grew into men who want men. That was never a girl trapped in the wrong body. That was a gay kid. The new rulebook would have taken that photo, given it a clinic, and called it care. I like my life with a man. Leave kids alone long enough to become who they actually are.
I was a gay kid who gravitated toward girls as friends and never felt at home with the straight boys. I played Barbies with my sister and there’s a kindergarten photo of me in a princess dress. Nobody told me that meant I was a girl or that I should “transition.” I just grew up and became a gay man. I’m grateful I wasn’t a child today. I like my life. Leave kids alone.