As If Puberty Wasn't Bad Enough As It Is.

Do you remember when you first knew you were gay? (For those of you who are not gay reading this – imagine another independent development, like the first time you realized your own political opinion, as opposed to parroting what you’d heard your parents say while listening to NPR). You were probably in your tweens, or later, because before you were too absorbed in learning about the world to really think about yourself that closely. In that, you were probably lucky.

This Village Voice article, about a 5-year-old boy who identifies as a girl, is fascinating. At age 2, he told his parents: "I want the fairy princess to come and make my penis into a vagina," he said. And you thought you were precocious.

We’ve never been really able to wrap our heads around the whole transsexual issue, because we don’t really relate to it much. So articles like these, which present the issue in a balanced light, are helpful. It helps see how people who don’t have a lot of exposure to gay people might feel about our own issues.

Also, for the rest (ok, most) of you NOT interested in reading about a gender variant five-year-old, there’s an educational slide show on the left side of the Village Voice website, which will teach you all about that cocktail waiter at Mr. Black who wears no pants.