‘I feel like it’s quite shaky acceptance’: trans kids and the fight for inclusion

Trans children and their families still often face suspicion and suppression, but attitudes are changing

My preconceptions about trans people came from the media, and I certainly hadn't heard of trans children. So it just flummoxed me having an assigned male child who didn't have especially feminine' interests and yet was saying consistently, I'm a girl.'"

Kate was telling me about her eldest daughter, Alex. (Names of all trans young people, and of their parents, have been changed for their privacy.) It was a warm July evening, and we were sitting in the kitchen of their family home, in a comfortable British suburb populated by middle-class couples with young families. Alex, still at primary school, is trans. A few years ago, her mum assumed she was a boy who was clumsily trying to ask for typically feminine things. I remember I used to have conversations with her at a very young age in the car because she'd get really upset. I'd say: But I don't understand what would be different if you were a girl? What can't you do that you could do if you were a girl?' I'd ask: Do you want a doll?' She'd just reply: I don't like dolls!'"