Finding Myself in the Mother's Day Card Aisle

Denise with her daughters

Courtesy of Family Equality Council

By Denise Brogan-Kator

I am not a stereotypical parent. This is not to say that I never nagged my children to do their homework and brush their teeth, or that I wouldn't give anything to protect them from the evils of the world--I did and I would. It's also not to say that I don't miss them terribly now that they are grown with lives of their own--I do. Or that I'm not super excited about my first grandbaby, due later this year--I am.

No, where I fall out of the stereotype is in my own personal expression of gender. You see, I am a transgender woman. Despite being assigned male at birth, I live my life, legally and socially, as a woman. For the past two decades, since my children were 7, 9, and 11 years old, they have known me as a woman. 

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Denise Brogan-Kator is the Senior Legislative Counsel for the Family Equality Council, where she works to advance equality for all families at the state level. Denise is the proud parent of three daughters and is excited to soon welcome her first grandbaby into the world.

This blog post is part of the Strong Families Mama’s Day Our Way celebration. You can read more posts in the series on the Strong Families blog. Strong Families is a national initiative led by Forward Together. Our goal is to change the way people think, act and talk about families.