Adapting

I was quite taken aback today reading an article on the Channel News Asia website concerning transgender students finding places in halls of residence at local universities. What took me by surprise were the numbers of such students involved. Whilst these were a bit vague they went well beyond the handful I suppose I'd vaguely imagined, with an estimate of 50 to 60 in one university. I couldn't help but wonder if these youngsters were getting the support they needed at a crucial time in their lives, given the challenges I assume they face. Reading between the lines, I got the impression that the various universities were trying hard to adapt to something quite new to them (but I'm just guessing here; the article didn't give any sense of historical context, which was a pity.)

Essentially the tone of the piece was, rightly, sympathetic and non-judgmental - in many ways positive, though there were hints of the difficulties encountered in the various families of the youngsters involved. Which made me wonder whether the deep-rooted antagonisms seemingly inexorably tied in with transgender issues in the West will eventually erupt in this part of the world. I'm thinking here of the visceral responses to J.K. Rowling's critique of the notion of self-identifying gender and the like.