655: Piers Kowalski: Shameless Transgender Dad

Piers Kowalski is an average father of two with a not so average story.   Born and raised in Colorado, Piers lived and worked on the west coast for 11 years before moving back to Colorado with his wife. He started building a career in his dream field of performance psychology, his wife went back to school for nursing, and they had two children. They seemed to be living a typical life. But at the age of 36, Piers was seven years, two kids, and two dogs into marriage when he discovered he was transgender. He was afraid he was going to lose everything and everyone he loved.   On a mission to change the world, Piers shares his story of pain, self-discovery, fear, love, and hope to help others better understand the transgender experience, community, and humanity.   We have had parents of trans kids on the show in the past, but Piers is our first trans parent to come on the show. I am so grateful and honored that he said yes. This was a really special and important conversation. I hope you’ll listen and then share it widely. Listen in to hear Piers share: The unexpected process of realizing he was trangender at the age of 36 The choice he had to make to either live with his family as a women - internalizing destructive pain - or take the risk of transitioning to living in his full male identity and potentially lose everything that meant the most to him The social conditioning of shame that creates immense and unnecessary pain for trans people His experience coming out to his mom and where she made missteps out of love that ultimately caused harm Simple steps cisgender people can support transgender people His 4 part advice for parents of a child who identifies as trans/non-binary or who are gender expansive/diverse in their gender identity or expression Links mentioned: Piers’s Personal IG Piers’s Professional IG   Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices