Aidan Key, a nationally known gender specialist, author, educator and speaker, will lead a workshop at McMurray Middle School on Friday.
“Transform: Building a Culture of Support for Gender Diversity” is an all-ages, interactive presentation where attendees will learn about child and adolescent gender nonconformity and identity formation, the challenges faced by these children and ways family, community and schools can support them.
“VARSA has offered courses in youth mental health first aid and suicide prevention training,” said Lisa MacLeod, VARSA co-chair and parent of a transgender child, “and after taking them both, I realized that one of our most vulnerable populations are LGBTQ youth. It seemed important to offer something like this.”
According to VARSA, LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide, are at increased risk for bullying and harassment and have a much higher likelihood of substance abuse than their straight peers.
Key, who lives in Burien with his wife, is a transgender man who was born a female — one of identical twin girls. After transitioning as an adult and finding few resources for support, guidance or education, he embarked on a path to help others, drawing from his own experiences.
Starting with community workshops and building to national conferences, Key was sought by many for his insight and expertise.
“In 2004, when parents started showing up with their teens or younger children, I realized that families would have very different issues to deal with than I had as an adult going through it,” Key said. “They were facing a society that had nothing to offer them. So I started support groups and a national conference specifically for families, with programming and experts from across the country.”
Since then, Key has authored a chapter on trans children in the book “Trans Bodies, Trans Selves,” established a support group for families at Seattle Children’s Hospital, has informed gender-inclusive policy work within the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and founded Gender Diversity Education and Support Services in Seattle.
“The focus of the workshop will be really understanding who these kids are and addressing all of the questions,” Key said. “And the key to understanding is to remember what gender was about when we were kids. Most kids aren’t as hung up on it as adults are.”
The workshop, from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, will be hosted by VARSA and the McMurray Middle School Equality Club, which will also offer a rainbow splash celebration modeled after the color run afterward.
