I just read this article about how parents of a five year old boy have allowed him to live as a girl. Only God knows if they are planning gender change surgery for him or not. A five year old boy wanting to play with ribbons and dresses did not mean that they had to change his name and his gender. The link is http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/five-year-old-boy-opts-to-become-a-girl.html

A five year old boy who rejected his gender is now living as a girl with the support of his family, doctors and school.


Zach Avery was three when he started questioning his gender, and began wearing dresses and ribbons in his hair.
Following a psychological evaluation he was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID), and has now been living as a girl for more than a year.

The disorder is a conflict between a person's physical gender and what they identify as. It prompts Zach to feel like a girl trapped in a boy's body.

According to his mother Theresa Avery, until the age of three Zach was a regular boy who loved Thomas the Tank Engine, but suddenly he became obsessed with Dora the Explorer and started dressing in girls clothes.

Ms Avery, who has three other children, told the Daily Telegraph that Zach's anguish at being a boy was such that "he used to cry and try to cut off his willy out of frustration."

Eventually NHS doctors officially diagnosed Zach with GID, one of the youngest affected children in the UK.

Ms Avery said: "They told us that although he had a male body, his brain was telling him he was a girl."

Zach's primary school now addresses him as a girl and has changed the toilets to Unisex.

Ms Avery said the school has been very supportive and Zach had experienced no bullying from other children.

"We explained to the other kids at the school that Zach's body was that of a boy but in his brain he was a girl. We said Zach was just happier being a girl than a boy," Ms Avery told the Daily Telegraph.

According to the Tavistock and Patman Foundation Trust in London, where Zach was diagnosed, 165 children received a GID diagnosis in the past year, of which only seven were under the age of five.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: "The trend in referrals has been up over the years - this may reflect greater awareness.

"In general when younger children are referred it is in relation to cross gender preferences in play, play mates and activities. It is more unusual for children of this age to express cross gender identification."

@OP
may i ask what you would have done differently then?!

I don't think it is appropriate to wish it would go away. I think they should have counselled the child that his willy is a part of him and let him grow "normally". If as an adult he still has the feelings then the decision is up to him at that point. I think the parents acted too early. He is too young

^^^ how more "normally" do you expect them to act or treat that child? they let him be who he BELIEVES he is, they let him act the way he sees himself in the mirror. as much as this is a difficult matter, the doctors have clearly identified the issue and they are dealing with it the best they know how. i doubt beating this child into NOT wearing dresses or putting ribbons in his hair will make any difference in this child's life.

let that child be happy and comfortable, since we can clearly see that he has no issues about it. . . . . . . . . . .although i can understand why many parents (especially African ones) would be against it.

who are we kidding? they kill G[b]a[/b]ys in some part of Africa and the 9ja gov.just passed a law against homosexuality.

The part where he tried to cut off his willy was quite shocking to me when I read it on paper this morning

In as much as it hurts the parents to see their young child turning into something he is not but i think it will hurt them more knowing fully well the child is unhappy. So I think they are doing the best they could for the child with the hope he will grow out of it.

@lurkee plz is there a way I can contact you privately?