In kindergarten, Erin Brewer was a girl, but when she started first grade, she considered herself a boy.
“I was insistent, persistent, and consistent that I was a boy, when I started first grade,” Brewer said during a panel discussion at a church in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Thankfully, I lived at a time when my teachers were very concerned about the changes that happened between kindergarten and first grade. In kindergarten, I was a pretty content kid. I came into first grade, and I was aggressive. I was acting like a boy. I was insisting on being called by the name Timothy. I wanted to go into the boys’ bathrooms.”
Her teacher arranged for Brewer to see the school psychologist.
“If I were a child today, my teachers would likely affirm that and say, ‘Yes, you are, in fact, a boy.’ And they would encourage that thinking,” Brewer said. “I’m incredibly thankful to my first grade teacher for referring me to the school psychologist, who instead of affirming that I was inherently flawed, and that I was born in the wrong body, helped me to understand that I had underlying causes that made me feel this way.”
She hadn’t been born in the wrong body. Brewer had been a victim of a sexual assault that she says made her turn away from herself.
Life Changing Confusion
Brewer, author of the book “Parenting in a Transgender World,” has become passionate about sharing her experience, knowing that today, children with gender confusion are more likely to be affirmed.
“If I were a child today, my teacher would likely say, ‘You can go in the boys bathroom, and if your parents don’t agree, we won’t tell them,’” Brewer said. “My school psychologist would likely say, ‘You are a boy, and we’re going to push you into medically transitioning. We’re going to get you on puberty blockers which will retard your growth and development. We’re going to put you on cross-sex hormones, which, combined with the puberty blockers, will leave you permanently sterilized. And then at 12 or 13, you can go ahead and get your breasts cut off.’”
By Beth Brelje
