Emily Zinos may not be a scholar or a doctor, but as a concerned mom who sees the danger of the transgender trend, she brings a unique perspective to the conversation and articulates it better than most.
The St. Paul, Minn., mother of seven (with an eighth on the way) could no longer remain silent on the issue when during the 12th year of her kids attending a local public charter school, the gender issue “landed on my doorstep.”
“We had a kindergartner in school and the parents said that [he] the five-year-old boy was gender-nonconforming,” Zinos told the Denver Catholic. “I really hadn’t heard of the phenomenon of kids identifying as trans or gender-nonconforming until that happened. But when it did, I had really no choice but to speak up.”
Since then, Zinos has equipped herself to dialogue effectively on the transgender issue and wants to give other parents the tools to do the same. Zinos will be a featured speaker at the Made This Way conference Sept. 10 at St. Thomas More Parish in Centennial, hosted by Denver’s Respect Life Office. Joining her will be Alabama-based plastic and reconstructive surgeon Deacon Patrick Lappert, MD, who will explain the medical and psychological consequences resulting from cross-sex hormones and surgeries.
Zinos is the author of the National Parent Resource Guide, an adopted version of the Minnesota Parent Resource Guide, which she also wrote. The guide seeks to clarify confusing terminology, describe the health consequences of the transgender trend, debunk myths and provide parents with the tools to advocate for a “genuinely inclusive environment” in their kids’ own schools.
“Most everything people are reading or hearing about transgender-identified kids is going from advocacy groups who have an interest in people coming to a very particular conclusion,” Zinos said. “Unfortunately, that [means] that thousands of kids across the country are losing their fertility and losing their heathy body parts. I really think that needs to stop.”
The guide was vetted by experts in law, medicine and education, Zinos said, and it is also co-branded by five different organizations that “come from across the political spectrum.”
Zinos’ efforts do not come from a place of hate or bigotry, as some critics might be quick to accuse her of. Rather, she is simply a mom who is trying to lovingly communicate the truth about the human person as created by God and present the dangers of this trend as it becomes more accepted. However, it must be done charitably, she stressed.
“The way we communicate in public, the way we maintain relationships with people in our lives [who] identify as trans have to be infused with charity,” Zinos said. “And charity doesn’t exist outside of truth.”
Made This Way Tuesday, Sept. 10, 6:30 p.m., $10 St. Thomas More, McCallin Hall 8035 S. Quebec St., Englewood, CO 80112 Register at respectlifedenver.org
To request a link to the National Parent Resource Guide once it’s released in September, send an email to askmefirstmn@gmail.com.