The Journey of a Transgender Child, Are Parents Pushing Children into an Identity they don't understand?

[link to magicvalley.com]

The little girls are dressed up and made up, hair sprayed, curled and twirled into intricate patterns, playing models. All 15 of them sit closely together on the floor while older women sit and stand, checking themselves in the mirrors, last-minute fixes in preparation for their grand entrance.

Rachel White, 7, is wearing black tights and a white lacy undershirt. A red dress fits neatly over it all. Rachel’s green earrings glint in the harsh electric light. Her dirty-blonde hair is pulled into a messy bun.

“No guys allowed in the green room,” someone says and the few men exit.

Rachel stays despite the fact that up until three years ago, she was a little boy named Trey.

“I could support my child, or I could bury my child”

Critics wonder if the children are truly transgender or are simply being pushed into an identity by their parents. One study from 1995, published by psychologists Kenneth Zucker and Susan Bradley, claims that 80 percent of transgender children eventually became gender-conforming adults.

New research is beginning to disprove that finding, however.