If you’ve been online recently, especially in a suburban Facebook group or the comment section of any mainstream media post about a Pride event, you’ve probably seen it:
“Think of the children!”
“Why are they pushing this on kids?”
“I don’t want my kid exposed to that.”
“That,” of course, meaning us, transgender people simply existing in public. And while these pearl-clutching reactions are nothing new, 2025 has seen them weaponized more aggressively than ever. From school board meetings to statehouses, the idea that kids seeing or learning about trans people is somehow dangerous has become the centerpiece of a moral panic.
So let’s be clear: Yes, your kids are seeing trans people. And that’s not just okay; it’s a good thing. Here’s why.
Visibility Isn’t Indoctrination, It’s Survival
Trans visibility is not about converting anyone. It’s about making sure trans kids (and the kids who love them) know they’re not alone.
When a child sees someone who defies the narrow rules of gender expression, it doesn’t flip a magical “trans switch.” What it might do is open their mind. It might give them the vocabulary to talk about things they’re already feeling. And for cisgender kids, it might plant seeds of empathy and curiosity rather than fear and judgment.
Numerous studies have shown that representation matters, especially for marginalized groups. In GLSEN’s 2021 National School Climate Survey, LGBTQ+ students who had access to inclusive curriculum were significantly less likely to feel unsafe or experience depression. It’s not because their school made them queer. It’s because someone finally acknowledged that they existed.
The Real Agenda: Erasure, Not Protection
When politicians and media pundits claim they’re just “protecting kids,” ask yourself: from what, exactly? The boogeyman constantly shifts; first bathrooms, then sports, now books and pronouns. But the consistent throughline is fear. Not facts. Not safety.
Banning Pride flags from classrooms, firing trans teachers, and pulling inclusive books off library shelves doesn’t “protect” kids. It tells them that gender diversity is shameful, dangerous, or invisible.
This isn’t about safeguarding innocence. It’s about enforcing conformity. And the people most harmed by that enforcement are the very kids these policies claim to protect.
Let’s not forget: trans kids exist. They always have. And when they grow up in environments that affirm who they are, their outcomes improve across the board, from mental health to academic achievement. When they’re forced into silence or fear? The opposite is true.
Kids Already Know More Than You Think
Let’s get real: kids today are growing up in a media ecosystem that is far more diverse than the one many adults did. They’re watching YouTube creators, streaming shows with queer characters, following influencers, and chatting in group threads where gender identity comes up naturally.
Trying to shield children from trans people in 2025 is like trying to keep them from learning about the internet. It’s not only unrealistic, it’s insulting to their intelligence.
Kids are curious. They ask questions. And when adults panic instead of answering them honestly, we don’t protect kids; we teach them that certain topics are taboo.
When a child asks, “Why does that person look like a girl but have a boy’s name?” the answer isn’t to yank them away or scold them. It’s to say, “Some people are born one way and later realize they’re actually something different. Isn’t it amazing how everyone gets to be themselves?”
That one moment of calm affirmation could be life-changing for a child who’s trans, or it could help build compassion in a child who isn’t. Either way, that’s a win.
Visibility Saves Lives. Literally.
In 2022, The Trevor Project found that transgender and nonbinary youth who had access to affirming spaces, like supportive schools or online communities, were at significantly lower risk of suicide. This wasn’t correlation; it was causation.
So when adults rant about “exposing children” to trans people, what they’re really demanding is isolation. They want trans youth to grow up without mirrors or maps. To wonder if they’re broken. To internalize shame.
But trans visibility is not a threat. It’s a lifeline. It’s a signal that says, “You are not alone. There is a future. There is love.”
Let’s Talk About Drag, Shall We?
Let’s briefly address one of the right’s favorite targets: drag.
Drag is not inherently sexual. It’s not a recruitment tool. And frankly, most kids understand the idea of dress-up and make-believe better than many adults do. Shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, Dragula, and even Sesame Street guest appearances (yes, really) have helped normalize drag as a legitimate art form, not a threat.
The outcry over drag story hours isn’t about protecting kids from sex; it’s about punishing gender nonconformity. And ironically, the people who scream the loudest about “groomers” are often the ones pushing rigid, heteronormative gender roles onto children from birth.
Spoiler: Letting your son wear nail polish is not abuse. Forcing him to “man up” until he learns to hate himself might be.
Let’s Also Talk About Who Gets to Be Seen
There’s a silent hypocrisy to how we frame “family-friendly” spaces.
No one flinches when a straight couple kisses on TV. No one stages a protest when a Disney princess wears a tight gown. But the moment a trans person reads a book to children or walks through a Target in a Pride shirt, it becomes a national crisis.
Why?
Because cisnormativity is invisible until it’s challenged. We don’t notice it because we’re taught to see it as the default. Anything else must be “pushing an agenda.”
But here’s the truth: visibility is only controversial when it belongs to the marginalized. And that tells us exactly where the real problem lies.
Your Kid Might Be Trans And That’s Not a Tragedy
Here’s the part that makes some parents uncomfortable: statistically, some of your kids will grow up to be LGBTQ+. Some will be trans. And that’s not a crisis to prevent; it’s a reality to embrace.
The job of a parent isn’t to control who your kid becomes. It’s to help them become that person safely.
If your child sees a trans person and starts asking questions about gender, that’s not danger. That’s development. That’s curiosity. That’s humanity.
And if your child turns out to be trans, they’ll already know that being trans is something real, something possible, something beautiful. Not something to fear.
The Fear Isn’t About Children, It’s About Control
The backlash to trans visibility often masquerades as parental concern, but let’s not get it twisted: this isn’t about “the children.”
It’s about power.
It’s about maintaining a narrow vision of what’s acceptable, palatable, and safe for public consumption. And it’s about punishing anyone who dares to live outside those lines.
Trans people challenge the binary. We disrupt tidy gender narratives. And for those invested in control, that’s terrifying.
But for the rest of us? It’s freeing.
How to Actually “Protect” Kids in 2025
If you really want to protect kids, try this:
- Fight for school funding and inclusive curriculums.
- Advocate for accessible mental health care.
- Teach them critical thinking, not censorship.
- Model empathy, not fear.
- Show them a world where difference is not danger but strength.
Kids don’t need less exposure to diversity. They need more tools to understand it.
A Message to Cis Parents: You’re Not Losing Control, You’re Gaining Connection
If you’re a cisgender parent feeling overwhelmed by this cultural shift, know this: seeing trans people isn’t going to “turn” your kid trans. But if they are trans, or queer, or questioning, your reaction matters more than you know.
Your discomfort isn’t more important than their survival. Your confusion doesn’t override their clarity. And your job is not to mold them; it’s to love them.
So yes, your kids are seeing trans people. In books, in classrooms, on TV, at the grocery store, online, and maybe even in their own mirrors.
And if you’re lucky, they’ll keep asking questions.
Because every question is a doorway. Every conversation is a bridge. And every moment you choose curiosity over fear, you make the world a little safer, not just for them, but for all of us.
The Bottom Line
Trans people aren’t new. We’re not a trend. We’re not a fad or a social contagion. We’ve existed in every culture, on every continent, for centuries. The only thing that’s changed is that more of us are finally being seen.
So yes, your kids are seeing us.
And that’s a good thing.
Because the world they inherit will be bigger, bolder, and more beautifully human than the one we grew up in.
If we let it.
