WHO WAS ‘BORN IN WRONG BODY’ My girl became the youngest trans toddler ...aged three
Picture: JOHN GLADWIN spinning around in the changing rooms in her new clothes was heart-melting, like she’d been set free,” Jeneen says.
“The moment we got home Luna emptied her wardrobe of all the boys’ clothes, put them into bin bags and put her new clothes up with pride.”
Days later Jeneen told her mum that Luna would be wearing girls’ clothes. She says: “We had an explosive argument, Mum telling me, ‘I can’t take her out in girls’ clothes’! I screamed back saying she had to be more understanding and supportive.
SCARED
“Mum called back later saying how sorry she was, how she loved us, but she was so scared. I explained I was more scared than anyone, but I couldn’t help Luna on my own.
“And with the head’s blessing at the start of Luna’s second year at school, she proudly wore a girl’s uniform. Everyone was so accepting. Other kids would ask why she was in a dress, and she’d reply, ‘Because it makes me happy’, and that was it. The sense of relief when she came home that first day with a smile on her face was overwhelming.”
Then came the issue of a name. After trying Alice for a week, she switched to Luna – a nod to the fact she and Jeneen look for the moon at night to make a wish before bedtime. The process hasn’t been easy though and Jeneen admits “grieving” as Facebook ‘time hop’ photos would pop up of Luna as a baby – “making me feel like I’d lost my old child”.
But she stresses: “I explained how I felt to friends not in the trans community. They told me I should be grateful to have a child. It’s a complex emotion as a parent of a trans child. Last thing I wanted was to cause offence to any parent who has lost a child because of an accident or illness.”
After being a nurse for 11 years, Jeneen started a course in therapy and it helped her come to terms with their new life.
This, plus being part of an invaluable Mermaids network in Liverpool, gave her the confidence and strength to handle “horrific” online comments. She adds: “I stopped reading comments saying how the parents should be killed or needed sectioning. This was about Luna’s happiness.
“I know she will encounter comments as she grows up, hated for something she didn’t choose, but I can either have a dead son or a happy, confident daughter.” At times, Jeneen has turned to the trans and LGBT communities, hate crime officers and even her MP for support.
A touching symbol came when Luna was re-baptised last year. Jeneen says: “The vicar couldn’t have been more supportive, even wearing a rainbow silk scarf.
“When I see and hear how Luna has accepted her authentic self, how happy, intelligent and hilariously funny she is, it makes me very proud. Kids need to be themselves to flourish, not what someone else wants them to be.”
Luna has had five gender clinic appointments and can ask questions and explore ideas about her own identity.
Jeneen says: “The next change won’t be for a few years when Luna starts puberty and she can choose for herself if she wants hormone blockers and medication, and whatever else she chooses. But it will be her decision, and hers only.”
Mermaids supports transgender children, teens and families. Helpline: 0808 8010400, Monday-Friday, 9am to 9pm