Life Coach on Raising a Trans Child and Choosing Love Over Religious Doctrine

Summary

Podcast Summary: Living Your Legacy

Episode: Life Coach on Raising a Trans Child and Choosing Love Over Religious Doctrine

Host: Kira Brinton
Guest: Megan Skidmore
Date: March 13, 2026

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Overview

This episode features an in-depth and heartfelt conversation between host Kira Brinton and life coach/author Megan Skidmore. The main theme centers on Megan’s journey as a parent navigating the discovery of her child’s transgender identity, while reconciling deep-rooted religious beliefs with unconditional love and acceptance. Megan discusses the transformation that came from challenging long-held doctrines, trusting her own inner voice, and the liberating power of sharing one's authentic story. The discussion promises guidance and solidarity to parents on similar paths and sheds light on the importance of vulnerability, both personally and within their communities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Disparity Between Doctrine and Lived Experience

• Megan recounts growing up in a conservative, multi-generational LDS (Mormon) household and how the teachings about LGBTQ individuals starkly contrasted with her experience of parenting a queer and then later openly transgender child.
• She describes the profound fear and upheaval that came from questioning religious beliefs:
  • Notable Quote: “To call into question these beliefs was, in the beginning, it was terrifying. Yeah. My world shattered.” (00:00, 05:15)

2. Learning to Trust Her Inner Voice

• Megan emphasizes the importance of listening to and honoring her inner voice, moving beyond the need for intermediaries in her relationship with the divine:
  • Notable Quote: “I learned that I didn't have to have an intermediary between me and God and the things that were specific to my life.” (00:00, 05:15)
• She describes the transformational gift of embodying authenticity and living in alignment with her own spiritual convictions rather than inherited doctrine.

3. The Power of Storytelling and Vulnerability

• Megan shares her motivation for writing her upcoming book, Transparency (stylized TransParentSee), which narrates her personal journey:
  • Experiencing her child first coming out as a lesbian and later as transgender, she likens the revelation to “a color no one ever told you about—how do you even describe it?” (08:27)
  • She stresses that sharing her story is an “unspoken invitation” for others to do the same, breaking the “prison of silence” that isolates many parents:
    • Notable Quote (Kira): “There are so many mothers who feel like they're walking alone on this journey. And you sharing your story is gonna free so many people from the prison of silence that these kind of conversations create.” (00:59, 08:35)

4. Navigating the Journey As a Parent

• Megan retraces the process of discovery, uncertainty, and love as her child’s understanding of their own identity evolved:
  • Quote: “When my kiddo first...when we first learned of his identity, it was as a lesbian...Two and a half years later, when he came and shared that he identified actually as transgender, in some ways, it almost felt like the journey started again, because...I did not have a reference point for it.” (05:15–07:56)
• She analogizes the emotional journey to talents or interests teenagers develop and discover—changing and growing over time.

5. The Transformative Power of Community

• The conversation highlights that connection, peer support, and openness help break cycles of silence and empowers others on similar paths.
• Kira and Megan reflect on their serendipitous meeting (at the 2022 Unstoppable conference) and collaboration, illustrating the impact of building new community ties:
  • Memorable Moment: Megan describes feeling destined to work with Kira after meeting her at the event—emphasizing the unexpected but crucial role of new relationships in life’s transformative journeys. (02:52–04:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Megan Skidmore (on faith and parenting):
  “The teachings around queer folks, LGBTQ folks that I had been given and then what I was experiencing with my own child did not match up. My child was not what I had been taught.” (00:00, 05:15)

• Kira Brinton (on storytelling):
  “There are so many mothers who feel like they're walking alone on this journey. And you sharing your story is going to free so many people from the prison of silence...” (00:59, 08:35)

• Megan Skidmore (on authenticity):
  “Me opening up and sharing my truth in a vulnerable and authentic way is this unspoken invitation for the person sitting next to me...to also do the same, even if it’s with their own self in the beginning.” (08:59)

• Megan Skidmore (on the ongoing journey):
  “I'm 52. And to feel like life is just starting—in so many ways.” (02:32–02:41)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–00:42: Megan describes the dissonance between religious doctrine and her lived experience as a parent
• 01:58–02:52: Kira recaps their first meeting and the significance of their connection
• 05:15–08:27: Megan shares the evolution of her child’s journey from coming out as lesbian to transgender, and her own growth as a parent
• 08:27–08:59: Discussion of sharing stories to break the "prison of silence" for parents of LGBTQ children
• 08:59–09:43: Closing reflections on the power of authenticity and the episode’s significance

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Takeaways

• Self-trust and spiritual autonomy are vital on the journey of parenting a queer or trans child, particularly when navigating conservative backgrounds.
• Vulnerability and storytelling break cycles of isolation and empower others to step into their truths.
• Life’s most meaningful and transformative connections often arise unexpectedly, and embracing them can change the course of personal legacies.

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This episode offers hope, guidance, and companionship for parents and allies, urging listeners to choose love over doctrine, honor their own intuition, and trust the profound process of living authentically—no matter where they start.

Transcript

[Megan Skidmore]

The teachings around queer folks, LGBTQ folks that I had been given, and then what I was experiencing with my own child did not match up. My child was not what I had been taught. So to call into question these beliefs was in the beginning, it was terrifying. Yeah. My world shattered. Probably the biggest thing is I learned to listen to my inner voice. I learned to honor that. I learned that I didn't have to have an intermediary between me and God and the things that were specific to my life.

[Narrator/Host Introduction]

Megan Skidmore is a transformative life coach, fierce advocate for empowerment, and the founder of Megan Skidmore Coaching. Through her work, she helps individuals and families break generational patterns, embrace radical self acceptance, and live authentically by trusting their inner voice and reclaiming their personal power.

[Kira Brinton]

There are so many mothers who feel like they're walking alone on this journey. And you sharing your story is going to free so many people from the prison of silence that these kind of conversations create.

[Megan Skidmore]

I hope so. I love how you. You termed it the prison of silence.

[Kira Brinton]

Yeah.

[Megan Skidmore]

If there's one thing I know is.

[Podcast/Show Intro Announcer]

It spans the globe like a super high cold Internet Elvis Pres. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone. It's not over until I win. The Living youg Legacy podcast for those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has happened. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago with the lead. You said Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[Kira Brinton]

Welcome back to my season of Legacy makers. My name is Kira Brinton, and I'm so excited to introduce to you one of our JOA authors and one of my friends and leaders that I just so respect and admire, Megan Skidmore.

[Megan Skidmore]

Hi, Kara.

[Kira Brinton]

So happy you're here.

[Megan Skidmore]

I am so happy to be here with you.

[Kira Brinton]

What a journey, huh? Huge, huge journey.

[Megan Skidmore]

Huge.

[Kira Brinton]

And it's just like starting. Can you feel that? It's like, what it took to get here. And also it feels like we're also just starting.

[Megan Skidmore]

It does.

[Kira Brinton]

It's wild.

[Megan Skidmore]

It does. It's especially wild to be. I have no shame. I'm 52. And to feel like life is just starting.

[Kira Brinton]

Oh, isn't that beautiful?

[Megan Skidmore]

In so many ways.

[Kira Brinton]

It is. I can feel it. So let's talk a little bit about. We met at a conference. 2022.

[Megan Skidmore]

Unstoppable. Unstoppable.

[Kira Brinton]

I spoke on that stage. Yes, we met. I remember meeting you at the lunch.

[Megan Skidmore]

Yes. I went to that conference because Glennon Doyle was coming. No disrespect to Glennon. I love Love, love her. And she was amazing to see in person. But it became very clear to me that I was supposed to go there to meet you because I knew I had a story in me through my journey, and I had felt it forming, and I just thought, I have no idea how I'm going to get that out there. I had no clue how to find an agent or a publishing company that would pick up a story of a moment of a kiddo who identifies as transgender. And when you were there and shared about it was called Freedom House Publishing at the time, but you shared about your publishing company. I just was like, no way. Get out. Are you kidding me? I'm gonna be working with this woman? I just knew it because of that. I keep bumping that. And it was so exciting to me to know that there were opportunities available and that you didn't have to know certain people at the publishing. Bigger publishing companies and all of that.

[Kira Brinton]

And how crazy is this that you signed on in 2022? Little did we know that we would not only have legacy makers TV episodes, but you are on my TV show called Riders island, where we are going to the sacred island in one week to channel your next book. I mean, what. How did this even happen?

[Megan Skidmore]

If you had told me that this is going to happen, I remember you channeled two people on the stage. If you had told me that this was going to be my life three years later, it's almost been three years now. I would have just looked at like you were crazy, right? Yeah. I never would have. I never would have been able to guess this.

[Kira Brinton]

And it wasn't time until now. So here we are.

[Megan Skidmore]

I wouldn't have been ready.

[Kira Brinton]

No. This was exactly what needed to happen. Your book is in the final rounds of editing, correct?

[Megan Skidmore]

It is round two.

[Kira Brinton]

Round two. So give just like a one minute taster so that they have an idea.

[Megan Skidmore]

So the story that I felt forming in my soul, in my gut, was what I had learned through this journey of parenting a queer child, Especially coming from a very conservative faith background. I was raised lds, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I go back six generations. And so that religion, that faith, that heritage, runs in my blood, in my DNA. And yet the teachings around queer folks, LGBTQ folks that I had been given and then what I was experiencing with my own child did not match up. My child was not what I had been taught that they should be or would be or were. And so to call into question these beliefs was. In the beginning, it was terrifying. Yeah. Yeah. My world shattered because I didn't know when you're family unit and the. The covenants, the agreements, the promises that you make are tied to your ability to be or not be with them in the next life. It's. It is. It's not something anybody takes lightly. Yeah. To. To give attention, to acknowledge these. These questions and doubts that are coming up. Probably the biggest thing is I learned to listen to my inner voice. I learned to honor that. I learned that I didn't have to have an intermediary between me and God and the things that were specific to my life. It was such a gift to just to learn that, but then begin. I think that began the process to really embody it in my actions, in my words, in my observances, and then what my steps forward looked like from that point. So my book that I have written is called Transparency, spelled T r a n s P a r e n T S E E. How I learned to see through my journey as a parent of a transgender kiddo. When my kiddo first. When we first learned of his identity, it was as a lesbian. My child is afab, assigned female at birth, and that's the language that he had at the time. That's the understanding. I've learned very much that sexuality, gender, it's as much a part of that learning, developing discovery process in teen years, youth years, whatever, as other aspects of being an individual. Talents, gifts, interests, languages, art, music, drama, theater, whatever. So two and a half years later, when he came and shared that he identified actually as transgender, in some ways, it almost felt like the journey started again, because that is something I just did not. I did not have a reference point for.

[Kira Brinton]

It's like a color. It's like a color that no one ever told you about. So how do you even.

[Megan Skidmore]

How do you describe it?

[Kira Brinton]

You can't describe. You can't.

[Megan Skidmore]

Yeah.

[Kira Brinton]

And I know that this is just a little taster, so we're gonna. We're gonna leave you guys on a cliffhanger. But what I think is so powerful that you are doing is you are sharing the story. And there are so many mothers who feel like they're walking alone on this journey. And you sharing your story is gonna free so many people from the prison of silence that these kind of conversations create.

[Megan Skidmore]

I hope so. I love how you. You termed it the prison of silence. Yeah. Because if there's one thing I know is me opening up and sharing my truth in a vulnerable and authentic way is this unspoken invitation for the person sitting next to me, the person on the other side of this camera, the person who's listening to my podcast to also do the same, even if it's with their own self in the beginning.

[Kira Brinton]

Oh, it's so powerful. I'm so excited for your episode, everyone. You're gonna love her episode because she's real, she's authentic, and her message is one that I think everybody can gain something from. So enjoy, and we'll see you next time.

[Megan Skidmore]

Thank you.