“When Did Gay Become the Happy Place?”
Catherine Hyde, a Howard County mom, was also afraid—and now she says “I have incredible regret over my fears over the life he’s going to lead.” Her son, 17-year-old Will, uses his birth name and the pronoun “he” but dresses and presents as a girl. At this point, Will is still exploring his sexuality. When he was 13, “He said, ‘I think I might be bi[sexual] and please don’t tell Daddy,’” says Hyde. “I said that’s fine and Daddy’s going to think it’s fine.”
After Will came out as bisexual, “he started, in typical teenage fashion, uploading cross-dressing videos to YouTube. He also launched a Facebook page that said he was a guy looking for guys.” That spurred Hyde to have a more serious talk with her son—not only about online privacy, but about his sexuality.
“I sat him down and said, ‘The reason I’m bringing this up is there’s something called puberty blockers that would give you more time’” before his hormones made him have a more masculine appearance. Soon after that conversation, Will came to her and said “I want those things that pause time.” After finding a pediatric endocrinologist and a gender psychologist, Will has been on puberty blockers since then.
“At one point my husband and I looked at each other and said, ‘When did gay become the happy place?’ On the other hand, by kid’s really flamboyant and he’s really out there and he’s really comfortable in his own skin and it’s a glorious gift.”
