Results: This Family's Story of Transgender Acceptance and Advocacy Is So Important

Jo Ivester is an award-winning author of the 2015 memoir The Outskirts of Hope. It's about her family's experiences as the only Jewish family living and working in an all-Black town in Mississippi in the 1960s. Her childhood experiences inspired her to become a civil rights activist. As she recalls, she developed an awareness that prejudice and discrimination exist and need to be battled. Then, she found the courage to be a part of that battle. And finally, she recognized that one individual could make a difference. Have you read this memoir, and/or do you agree with her saying "ONE INDIVIDUAL CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE"?

She has now come full circle, applying these same principles to her latest book, Once a Girl, Always a Boy, which chronicles the journey of her transgender son, Jeremy, from his childhood to how he became an advocate for the transgender community. A unique "family memoir," the book is told from multiple family members' perspectives. Library Journal recently called the memoir "a model for other families searching for acceptance and ways to support their loved one's transition journey." Is anyone in your family going through transition?

Gender dysphoria is the distress that someone feels when their sense of gender doesn't match the biological gender given to them at birth. Over 40 percent of transgender teens have attempted to take their life. Gender dysphoria is very difficult to deal with and individuals who do not have the support of their family suffer tremendously. Jo thought that by bringing in the voices of siblings and parents, as well as Jeremy's own voice, it would make it easier for the family members of trans individuals to relate and accept. Do you think you could support a family member who was going through transition, even if you did not understand or even accept it?

One of the Jewish values Jo has instilled in her work beginning with her first memoir is that of tikkun olam — repairing the world. She feels that even though we may not understand, or sometimes accept what someone is going through, we should always support them, be there for them, not judge them, and with these small steps, try and make the world (which is filled with so much hate and divisiveness) a better place. Do you believe in this idea?