Rebekah, 11, New Jersey

When I first began to understand my gender identity was when I was 8. I was homeschooling that year so I had no difficulty transitioning in school. It was at my brother’s birthday when I started to understand. Before that, I had always loved the color pink. It was not anything that I thought made me stick out from the others in my small private school. My parents kept saying, "Colors are for everyone. Clothes are for everyone. You can be any kind of boy you want to be." But of course, in the end, I was not a boy.

At the birthday party, we went to a swimming place. I did not want to wear any of my "boy" swimsuits. After that, my mom was looking up gender-non-conforming swimsuits and a video of Jazz Jennings popped up. When I watched it I understood what transgender was. All of the pieces clicked together and I understood that I was a girl.

After transitioning my mom and I trusted that my gut was going to make the right choices and nothing at this point in the process was irreversible. We understood that this was a real thing and that if it helped me then it was the best for the family. A few weeks after it all fell into place I started to express myself in the world as a girl. My mom and I went shopping for girls’ clothes. The only major things that we did to express this was changing my name and pronouns. I had already worn mostly girl’s clothes so that wasn't a big change.

My parents still had the list of names they would name me if they knew I was a girl when I was born. Among those names was Rebekah and Elizabeth. My parents gave me the freedom to choose whatever name I thought fit and I chose Rebekah. With my family as I changed my pronouns, they made mistakes. Sometimes they called me by the wrong name or referred to me as the wrong gender. I then just gently reminded them and they soon got used to it.

It felt good to express myself in this way I always knew that I should. It also made me feel better about myself. I was happier and felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders it made me happier. When I was living myself in the world it felt amazing.

All of the people I have told in my community have been very supportive. Sometimes people have not understood so my family and I try to teach them. Some of my friends are confused and don't believe me. All of the people around me are supportive and, even if they do not understand, they look at how much happier I am and move on. I understand that it is hard to comprehend it all, and all the people I tell are trying their best to keep up.

People sometimes do not understand that this is not a choice, it is who I have always been. People may think that I chose to be like this and all people could just choose that one day they could be transgender. This is wrong because the only reason my family figured out was that I was struggling. If someone just thought they were trans one day then they would struggle the same way I used to.

The only few challenges I have faced were explaining it. It can be hard to explain this personal information to even your best of friends. I also have to explain what being transgender is and that can be hard sometimes.

One of my hopes is that one day all the kids like me will be welcomed and accepted. I also really want to be an author when I grow up so I can create imaginative, adventurous, and humorous stories.