‘This Is Our Coming Out’: Parents Explain Why They Let Their Daughter Become Their Son at Age 5

In 2007, when Jeff and Hillary Whittington learned they would be having a baby girl, they painted the nursery gray and decorated with pink accents. Five years later, the decor changed.

The California parents said they thought the hardest challenge with their first child, Ryland, would be overcoming the fact that she was born deaf. The girl was fitted with cochlear implants and eventually learned to hear and speak.

But it wasn’t long until the Whittingtons faced another challenge.

“As soon as Ryland could speak, she would scream, ‘I’m a boy!’” the parents said in a video they dubbed “our coming out” about the child whom they allowed to change her outward appearance to the gender she identifies with on the inside at just 5 years old.

Ryland was born deaf but as soon as she was able to start hearing and speaking thanks to a cochlear implant, she started expressing herself as a boy. (Image source: YouTube)

The Whittingtons posted their video about Ryland’s story on YouTube earlier this week, after presenting it at the Harvey Milk Diversity Breakfast last week, where they received the Inspiration Award at the event dedicated to the first openly gay politician who was elected to public office.