#i told this story to my coworker who is the other enby in the office

[i-aint-even-bovvered]

Story time!

I work at a synagogue that has a summer camp for nursery school and preschool aged kids. It's a really nice program because we have this sort of outdoor adventure space with a garden and what they call a "mud kitchen" which just seems like the most fun a toddler could possibly have during the summer, and I kinda wish I had that growing up, I'm not gonna lie.

Anyway, someone calls in and asks about our summer program. She wants to know the ages it's for and how long the sessions are. Crucially, the ages are toddler and preschool, and we only have one eight week summer session (we don't have four or two week sessions). She says she has a kid going into kindergarten, but maybe she'll sign him up next year.

Before I can explain that, no, unfortunately her son will be too old for our program next year, she says the following:

"I was going to sign him up for this other camp, but the woman creeped me out because they read books about gender identity there."

There is no way this woman would have known that she was on the phone with my nonbinary ass, but she obviously doesn't know anything about our shul, or else she would have read our statement on inclusivity, along with the fact that one of our head Rabbis (they're both women) is gay. My boss literally had me buy a new pride flag for outside since the one we have is fading. I am also not the only nonbinary member of staff.

I put on my best customer service voice and say, "Well, I want to let you know that we are a very inclusive community, and while I can't speak to the kinds of books the children read at camp, I can say we do everything we can to make everyone feel welcome, no matter who they are."

The woman then replies, "I don't think I'm interested anymore," and hangs up.

I hope that kid has an easy time growing up, because damn.

TL;DR: Progressive Judaism is not the place for your transphobia.