Because we just haven’t heard enough about that tiny fraction of the population struggling against biology and reality, TLC and ABC Family are producing shows about transgender persons and their conversion experiences.
ABC Family’s Becoming Us is scheduled to premiere this summer, focusing on a teenager whose parents have recently divorced. As if this were not tragedy enough for the young man, his father, Charlie, is transitioning into a woman named Carly. This is the main dynamic of the show.
Karey Burke, vice president of programming and development at ABC Family, claimed that “The journey of acceptance is utterly authentic. Our network has a history and certain currency not being afraid of shows that tackle social issues, that shed light on current affairs.”
Clearly, ABC Family dropped any pretense at family programming a long time ago (don’t forget The Fosters, a real gem). With Becoming Us, it’s pushing the outer limits of ‘A new kind of family.’
TLC’s All that Jazz centers around a 14-year-old named Jazz Jennings, who decided at a very young age that he was a girl. Jazz’s parents supported that change, letting him live as a girl from the age of five and giving him hormone treatment from the age of 11 to stop his adolescent development. (Wow, that’s great parenting!) The show focuses on “the typical teen experiences, including dating, sleepovers and high school.”
Allowing a child to begin at the age of five a process of alienation like this is child abuse. Perhaps the only thing worse than this is TLC’s willingness to produce a story in an attempt to normalize transsexual behavior.
Sounds like ‘a new kind of low.’
