When five-year-old Jacob Lemay was first born in 2010 his U.S. parents were overjoyed with their new arrival.
Mimi and Joe were delighted as their doctor announced that they were parents to a healthy baby daughter.
Jacob was born a girl who his parents named Mia.
But it didn’t take long for Mimi and Joe to see that their daughter was a little different. Mia prefered playing with boys’ toys getting dirty, and dressing and acting like a boy.
Over time their daughter showed a lack of confidence and happiness as she continued to show a strong preference for all things ‘boy’.
Mimi and Joe soon realised that their daughter was in fact their son.
“Jacob is transgender,” said Mimi in a NBC Nightly News series featuring transgender children.
Thanks to Jacob’s supportive and intuitive parents he has been able to transition from being their daughter, Mia into their son, Jacob.
Mimi lovingly describes her son as a “typical and energetic” little boy.
Jacob’s dad boasts about his son before explaining that Jacob is transgender, “He’s just the funnest kid and a great buddy to have around. He was also born in a girl’s body.”
Both Mimi and Joe explained their son’s torment as he tried to live the life of a little girl, which clearly made him so unhappy.
After seeing a video describing the transition of another transgender child, Mimi and Joe decided to show Jacob the same video and ask him if he’d like to be known as a boy.
“That’s what I want.” said Jacob, “I want to be a boy always. I want to be a boy named Jacob.” he explained to his parents.
His parents describe that before Jacob transitioned from being Mia to Jacob he was quite withdrawn. He didn’t give people much eye contact and he didn’t smile. “I’d never seem him throw his head back and just laugh,” said Mimi.
Now that he has tranditioned to being Jacob he is confident, conversational and laughs and smiles. “He’s just a different person. He’s becoming himself,” said Joe.
Watching Jacob come out his shell and become the little boy he had always been inside was a learning curve for his mother. “I realised he had never really been Mia. That had been a figment of my imagination.”
Jacob’s successful gender transition is a testament to his supportive and nurturing parents. Both Mimi and Joe have nurtured Jacob to be comfortable in his own skin through compassion and understanding. He is now a happy and well-adjusted five-year-old boy.
“I couldn’t ask for a better son.” said Joe. “He’s amazing.”
“I want him to know how proud I am of him. How brave I believe he is, and how no matter what I’m in his corner and I love him and always will. Because he’s my son,” said Mimi.
See Jacob’s proud parents in the video below.
