Do those opposed to gender reforms think of families like mine?

I am the parent of a child who felt they were in the wrong body from pre-school age – and that was in the 1970s! But provided a child is accepted for their own personality, that childhood can still be a fairly happy one.

Problems arise when others won’t accept this. It was worrying as a parent to realise your young adult offspring could suffer an unprovoked attack from some complete stranger – simply because that bigot wasn’t sure of the gender of their victim. (Yes, it happened more than once.)

Do these people so objecting to this new legislation (which is already in place in several other countries) never stop and try to think what life is like for the families of the trans folk, let alone these individuals who are merely trying bravely “to be true to myself”, as my young adult put it 20 years ago? It’s not easy, you know.

I remember once at an airport during that long transition period, watching the cold, unfriendly scrutiny of the passport official, such that I went up to the desk to reassure the woman that yes, as the parent of my 20-something “child”, I could assert this was the bona fide person on that document.

I’m not disputing that there might perhaps be a rare occurrence of a bad ’un abusing these new laws, but has life ever been perfect? The chances of harm are so likely to be minuscule alongside the various sufferings that trans folk experience.

Have your readers any notion of the suicides because of society’s attitudes? I have, I was once asked to meet and so comfort and encourage another mother struggling to accept this difficult situation. It never happened, for her child took their own life before ever we managed to arrange it. I’ve often thought since of that poor mother left with her grief.

A recent National correspondent wrote as if the possible rare felonies which are unlikely anyway to result from this new legislation had already become the norm. How ridiculous! In our case, Scotland gave the education, but our child chose after transitioning to live overseas in a younger, more open-minded country where no-one knew about a different-gendered past.

Thus a career working on anger management with violent prisoners; to rehabilitate traumatised former soldiers; and now to bring together people of different races and religions – well, that has been Scotland’s loss! And don’t you reckon we need such an individual (who has always been loved in every post taken) here, if Scotland is to have a brighter future?

Who are these anti-trans demonstrators anyway? It doesn’t look as if they are aware of the need for empathy. They can’t be “family” orientated, for trans people need their families more than most.

To my mind, they certainly can’t be CHRISTians, for that name is adopted by those who aim to live their lives following the one who reached out to and welcomed the outcasts and shunned of society. Who on earth are they, and why are they so? That is the real puzzle in all this.

A Proud Parent (name and address supplied)

LET’S throw Westminster a curve ball. I suggest the Scottish Parliament has a vote on leaving the Union on the grounds that the Westminster government has broken the Act of Union on numerous occasions.

Within the bill will be a date set for the people of Scotland to have a vote on rejoining the Union. This would actually let the people of Scotland have a democratic choice of joining, unlike the original act which was signed under duress and corruption by a handful of lords.

F Paterson

Dunlop