Is this hereditary?

[zamber74]

I don't want to give out too much personal information, so I'll leave it fairly vague.  Someone who is directly related to me just came out privately to my wife, this person should have no clue that I am TG.  I have never brought it up to this person, never hinted at it, yet there it is.  The only way they could possibly guess, is by my personality.  We have known this person since they were young, and they always exhibited traits of the opposite gender, despite another family member trying to pigeon hole them into their birth gender. 

We represent such a tiny fraction of the population, and this just seems to be more than a coincidence.  I'm now wondering who else in my family could have been TG, if I am from a long lineage of people who have carried some gene that causes this to us.  Or perhaps it is just a coincidence. 

I wish I could give more information, but I get a little paranoid on the Internet when it comes to sharing family member's information.

Does anyone else here have family members that are TG as well? 

[jennie.ayana]

I don't want to give out too much personal information, so I'll leave it fairly vague.  Someone who is directly related to me just came out privately to my wife, this person should have no clue that I am TG.  I have never brought it up to this person, never hinted at it, yet there it is.  The only way they could possibly guess, is by my personality.  We have known this person since they were young, and they always exhibited traits of the opposite gender, despite another family member trying to pigeon hole them into their birth gender. 

We represent such a tiny fraction of the population, and this just seems to be more than a coincidence.  I'm now wondering who else in my family could have been TG, if I am from a long lineage of people who have carried some gene that causes this to us.  Or perhaps it is just a coincidence. 

I wish I could give more information, but I get a little paranoid on the Internet when it comes to sharing family member's information.

Does anyone else here have family members that are TG as well?

I've been wondering the same myself.
I'm part if a very conservative family, so I don't know of anyone else who is lgtq, but within my family unit..my son is that, my daughter came out as bisexual-gender non-conforming, and I'm transgender. So, I wonder if they inherited from me..?

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[Julia1996]

I totally doubt it's like hereditary.  No one else in my family is trans or even gay that I know of.
Julia

[zamber74]

I've been wondering the same myself.
I'm part if a very conservative family, so I don't know of anyone else who is lgtq, but within my family unit..my son is that, my daughter came out as bisexual-gender non-conforming, and I'm transgender. So, I wonder if they inherited from me..?

Yeah, it really makes me wonder giving the low odds of it all.  Not saying it is a sure thing, we both could just been hit by random chance, it is something that really makes me wonder though.  I would ask my parents if they knew of anyone else in the family that was TG, but I haven't come out to them yet.  My family is not very conservative, but they do not very often volunteer information unless I ask. 

[zamber74]

I totally doubt it's like hereditary.  No one else in my family is trans or even gay that I know of.
Julia

Outside of that one family member, none of mine are either that I am aware of.   

[Deborah]

I don't know of any others in my family.  However, there is evidence that at least some epigenetic effects can be passed generationally.  That might account for this being prevalent in some families.


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[Jessica]

Hi girls 🙋🏼  I'm more inclined to think it's mostly the environment we are exposed to.  Myself, I believe it was the DES my mother took to prevent miscarriage.  I totally don't doubt that someone can be expose by some they ate on a regular basis that can shift gender.
Besides I believe in natural selection.  I think that gene had a good chance of dying out.
Hugs, Jessica 💁

[Charlene2017]

This topic is so close to home it isn't funny.  First there is me who has been hiding on/off for 51 years.  I told my wife before we got married I was CD then came clean with actually that I am trans.  We kept it hidden as we didn't want the kids to know.

Our oldest turned 18 and said he was a she.  WTF???  We both were shocked as she never had any of the signs I had when I was younger.  So now she is on her way to doing what I always wanted.

We did tell the older two (20 & 18...) but not the 10 year old.

Now on my wife's side, our niece became our nephew and his one sister is either our new nephew or binary non-gender. Not sure yet as she won't tell anyone.  The youngest of the 4 apparently feels like he is a she.

So that is 2 within the 5 in my house and then 2-3 out of 6 in my sister in-laws house.

There is another maybe 2 but that is on my wife's side but a step-dad, so no relation.

[Shellie Hart]

I am pretty sure I am the only member of my family who is trans. Nearly all the boys/men in my family are husky/stocky and dark (with black hair). I am the only one that is blond, small (now 5'-10") and built the way I am (feminine & leggy). I wish there could have been another that looked like me (and acted like me) in my family. Life might have been a bit easier(?).  As I stated in other posts (and like others have said here), I never fit in with any of my family. So I don't really think it is passed through the generations/genes. I would love to see any studies on this...

[Jenny94]

This topic is so close to home it isn't funny.  First there is me who has been hiding on/off for 51 years.  I told my wife before we got married I was CD then came clean with actually that I am trans.  We kept it hidden as we didn't want the kids to know.

Our oldest turned 18 and said he was a she.  WTF???  We both were shocked as she never had any of the signs I had when I was younger.  So now she is on her way to doing what I always wanted.

We did tell the older two (20 & 18...) but not the 10 year old.

Now on my wife's side, our niece became our nephew and his one sister is either our new nephew or binary non-gender. Not sure yet as she won't tell anyone.  The youngest of the 4 apparently feels like he is a she.

So that is 2 within the 5 in my house and then 2-3 out of 6 in my sister in-laws house.

There is another maybe 2 but that is on my wife's side but a step-dad, so no relation.

Wow, that's interesting. I guess it does run in the family. I can think of a few other cases - there's a trans youtuber I watch whose brother is also trans, and I remember a pair of trans sisters on the news a while ago. Also the Wachowski sisters. That said, maybe it's an illusion - if, say, 1% of the population is trans, and there were no correlation in a family, then the chance of both of two siblings being trans is 1 in 10,000. That means it would certainly happen, and then it'd make the news so we hear of it...Also, things like - aren't two twins more likely to be both gay than just one of them? Or some statistic like that.

I don't think anyone in my family is trans, sadly. But in one of my many trans-related dreams the other night, my old school librarian was some sort of trans counciller, and said to me, "Unfortunately, it was too late for your grandmother, but you'll be fine", and I was like, "You reckon my grandma was really a man?" and she said, "...Perhaps!" This woman never met my late grandma, and needless to say, the thought had never crossed my mind before. So God knows where that came from. XD

[Dena]

This topic has come up in the past and there are others on the site who had family clusters of LGBT members. I am not sure genetics are the only cause of being transgender but it appears their is a genetic tie for at least some of us. I kind of suspect that my father fell somewhere in the LGBT area but his difficulty in accepting me makes me wonder if he might not been able to accept himself. He was born shortly after the start of the 20th century and social roles were a good deal different at the time.

[KathyLauren]

Because gender is determined by hormones, not (directly) by genes, there are lots of environmental factors that could be involved.  Anything that messes with gestational hormone levels could do it.  In some families DES is a possible culprit, and the mother could have been prescribed DES for several pregnancies.  There are likely many environmental factors that could affect the hormones.  However, since genes do influence hormones, some family clusters could be due to genetics, too.

In my family, of three siblings, one is gay and one (me) is trans.  DES is suspected in my case.  Is there a connection?  Who knows?

[Tommie_9]

All I know for sure is that Lada Gaga sang my song, I was "Born this Way!"

[Jessica]

Because gender is determined by hormones, not (directly) by genes, there are lots of environmental factors that could be involved.  Anything that messes with gestational hormone levels could do it.  In some families DES is a possible culprit, and the mother could have been prescribed DES for several pregnancies.  There are likely many environmental factors that could affect the hormones.  However, since genes do influence hormones, some family clusters could be due to genetics, too.

In my family, of three siblings, one is gay and one (me) is trans.  DES is suspected in my case.  Is there a connection?  Who knows?

Very true, I feel DES played a major part on my ->-bleeped-<-.  My brother had a cyst and my sister was exposed also with no know effect.
Hugs, Jessica 💁

[Charlie Nicki]

 I can't tell for sure but I do believe that at least some of it has to be genetic. My brother is gay, I'm trans (still presenting as a gay man), I got 3 gay uncles, one gay great uncle, one lesbian great aunt (who I suspect could be trans, she has always dressed very masculine), one bisexual cousin. My best friend who is gay has a lesbian sister (and her girlfriend has a gay brother), a bisex cousin and a gay cousin. His ex boyfriend also has a lesbian sister. It can't be a coincidence.


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[Cindy]

I think epigenetic is slowly coming to the fore as a possible cause but also of course social acceptance.

In a family it may be a lot easier for family members to come out as they know that they will (should) be accepted.

The weirdest case I've come across so far was when attending a TG social club many years ago. There were 4 new members that evening, all MtF all from the same class at the same school and none of them had seen each other for 10+ years and had NEVER discussed that they were gender diverse with anyone at school and had been in hiding themselves for their entire lives.

Of course that has absolutely nothing to do with anything but I thought I'd mention it!

[kelly_aus]

The weirdest case I've come across so far was when attending a TG social club many years ago. There were 4 new members that evening, all MtF all from the same class at the same school and none of them had seen each other for 10+ years and had NEVER discussed that they were gender diverse with anyone at school and had been in hiding themselves for their entire lives.

I ran in to an old school friend while out and about in Melbourne, seems we both had a similar tale to tell.. So that was 2 in 60 students , age 18 +/- 2 years. I wonder if that's some kind of statistical anomaly. Seems she'd transitioned straight out of HS..

[Julia1996]

This is getting interesting.  When I first read this post I thought absolutely no way is being trans genetic. But after reading some of these posts about having more than one gay family member I'm not so sure. Our understanding of genetics is still limited. I guess it's not impossible that there is some genetic cause we just don't know about. I'm sure if a gene was discovered that caused people to be trans or gay they would find a way to eradicate it and the future would have only hetero, cis people in it. I remember an old movie where everyone was genetically engineered and they had eliminated ugliness, obesity, addiction AND sexual deviancy. I think it was called Gattica.

Genetics are weird. Luckily for my older brother he doesn't have albinism.  He had a 50% chance of being born with it. Actually I think it would be cool to have a gay brother.  But no such luck. I'm stuck with a masculine gym rat who sleeps with every girl he can.
I keep reading about people who's mom took this DES stuff when they were pregnant. That's awful. Being trans is awful and painful but it's better than missing limbs. I watched this show once about all the babies who were born missing limbs and deformed back in the 50s from them giving that stuff to pregnant women. How could that even happen? Didn't they have clinical trials back then? Didn't drugs have to be cleared by the FDA? That's so sad!
Julia

[FTMax]

There is no one else on either side of my family that I know of who was known to be trans. I have several folks on both sides of my family who are very into geneology, so I can trace my family history back pretty far. Unless they were closeted or really private about it, there is no one but me.

That said, PCOS does seem to occur more often than not in my family tree, which also has an interestingly high diagnosis rate in the FTM community.

[Julia1996]

There is no one else on either side of my family that I know of who was known to be trans. I have several folks on both sides of my family who are very into geneology, so I can trace my family history back pretty far. Unless they were closeted or really private about it, there is no one but me.

That said, PCOS does seem to occur more often than not in my family tree, which also has an interestingly high diagnosis rate in the FTM community.

Before I joined this site and read some of the life stories I always thought being trans started very early in life and it would be totally obvious someone was trans. But after reading about how very well some people have been able to hide it I can only say no one else in my family is trans that I KNOW of.
Julia