The story I've posted above has become a big topic of conversation everywhere I've been in the Boston area since Sunday. At my university, LGBT students report that a couple of other students who have often seemed quite disturbed by the presence of transgenders in their classes have come up to them, mentioned that they read the article, and expressed forgiveness for their past "lack of understanding" or for open hostility.
On the subway this morning, I overheard a woman who must have been in her 70s discussing the article with a younger woman in her 40s, who might have been her daughter. The older woman said something along the lines of how she doesn't know how she would've handled such a thing, but she was proud to know that it was someone from Maine who had the courage to stand up for a child in need "like that."
Talk radio has been abuzz, too (I'm told), with the haters coming out in droves. But they are, apparently, being countered even by regular callers who are marveling at the courage of this family.
|