Thinking About Identity Labeling

A few days ago I was struck by Lisa Selin Davis’s New York Times Op-Ed, “My Daughter is Not Transgender. She’s a Tomboy.” It captured for me the need we seem to have to get young people identified and then label that identity. Often kids who, in my experience, are exploring and trying out identities as they figure out what they want to be.

Then a few days later I read Chase Strangio’s thought-provoking response, “An Open Letter to Those Praising the New York Times ‘Tomboy’ Piece.” And I reali...