Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

Michelle Alfano's 'The Unfinished Dollhouse' Brings Raw Emotion of Parenting a Transgender Child By K.J. Mullins,  Newz4U   Michelle Alfano - photo by K.J. Mullins Being a mother is not an easy job. In her new book 'The Unfinished Dollhouse' Michelle Alfano details her personal struggles with raising her transgender son Frankie with a rawness that doesn't gloss over her true emotions. What happens when a child's gender identity isn't the same as the gender they were born with. Is there a way to come to terms with what a parent has dreamt of when it will never come to be? When Alfano's daughter was born weeks early her “Momma Bear” instincts came out. She protected her perfectly formed child throughout childhood, treasuring every moment. The little girl was perfect in Alfano's eyes and the author loved dressing her up in little dresses and styling her beautiful locks. The image may have been perfect but the reality was far from

. A slighty different version of this was written for my Huffington Post blog http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/stephen-weir/sandra-perron_a_23074869/ By Stephen Weir I spent the 80s and early 90s working for a company that designed, built and marketed weapons and defense systems to the military.   I was often called upon to interact with military leaders at classified trade shows, product demonstrations and, of course, the never ending plant tours (The military Dog and Pony shows). In all my time on the job I never once helped with a Canadian Forces visit that included a high-ranking female officer.   The business of buying multi-million dollar defense systems was a Man’s World, after all, women weren’t allowed to lead troops onto the battlefield (although some NATO allies were more enlightened).   Sandra Perronn  Toronto park - sweir photo I left that world in 1993, and it wasn’t until last month that I actually met a senior female combat officer from the Canadian