A Mother's Transition Story: Part 1: The Beginning

Ferndale Patch is running a three-part series of a mother's experience with her transgendered youth. Here is Part 1. Part 2 will run Thursday and Part 3 on Friday.

http://ferndale.patch.com/articles/a-mothers-transition-story-part-1-the-beginning

My son is transgender. He was born 21 years ago in a female body. He was raised as a girl. He used to be my only daughter.

I remember the first time he told me. He was 15 years old. It was late, and the rest of the family was in bed. The two of us were sitting up on the living room couch. Kyle was struggling with his homework, and I could see that he was becoming upset. What I didn't know yet was that he was wresting with something much larger.

A Mother's Transition Story: Part 2: The Transition

The transition begins for both the mother and the child. Legally, the mother writes, it was easy, but as the metamorphosis continued biologically, it grew more difficult.

http://ferndale.patch.com/articles/a-mothers-transition-story-part-2-the-transition

Wednesday, Ferndale Patch published the first part of a three-part series on a mother's experience with her transitioning daughter. Part One: The Beginning explored the moment when the daughter told the mother she was a boy. In Part Two: The Transition, the mother discusses the feelings and emotions of watching her daughter turn into her son.

My son began his gender transition from female to male with a sense of urgency, which surprised me. I had expected a period of "questioning" before he acted on these revelations, and I was unprepared when he immediately decided upon a new name, a boy's name: Kyle.

A Mother's Transition Story: Part 3: Loving My Son, Losing My Daughter

Kyle, as the mother writes, has grown up to be a free, confident young man. However, it came with a cost -- the cost of the mother losing her daughter.

July 8, 2011

http://ferndale.patch.com/articles/a-mothers-transition-story-part-3-loving-my-son-losing-my-daughter

The final story, the mother realizes she is losing a daughter and welcoming a son.

Almost six years have passed since that first night. I have been surprised at how straightforward and uncomplicated some aspects of Kyle's gender transition seemed.

For the most part, our family rallied around him. I was especially pleased and a bit surprised at how supportive Kyle's grandparents have been. Teachers, classmates and friends, as well as our faith community, have been mostly welcoming and affirming.