Starshine’s article missed a chance to celebrate one of Santa Barbara’s remarkable strengths. This community is rich in transgender leadership and resources. Thanks to the rhetorical skills of longtime leaders like Lisa Gillinger, and more recently the organizing skills of Rachel Gloger, this town has more trans-savvy providers and parents than any community between L.A. and S.F. Between them these women have trained our schools, medical centers, our hospital and our churches. See sbtan.org for an ever growing list.
The question that Starshine posits goes unanswered in her article. Why the sudden surge of transgender teens? The answer is clear.
Our families have made Santa Barbara a place where our smart, active, and articulate trans and non-binary teens can flourish.