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Trans teen Jazz Jennings’ family are so supportive it hurts
Trans teenager Jazz Jennings‘ brothers, sister, and mom have shared their experiences of her transition, offering support to other transgender kids and their relatives in a series of videos.
The family of the 14-year-old activist and YouTube star recorded a series of ‘getting to know you’ videos, telling the world what it’s really like living with such an extraordinary young woman, ahead of ahead of the launch of Jazz’s reality TV show, I Am Jazz.
Jazz’s family offered a unique insight into their family life – sharing everything from their everyday experiences of cooking and light-hearted squabbles, to more poignant stories of Jazz’s transition.
Her sister, 19-year-old Ari, explained what it was like to discover her sister was trans.
‘When Jazz was three and we first discovered that she was transgender, I didn’t really know what to think at first,’ she said.
‘I really liked being the only girl, because its really cool to be like ‘I have three brothers, I’m the only girl, I’m the princess of the house’ but I got past that once my dad explained to me that we need to support her and be there for her and I realised that it doesn’t really matter if i’m not the only girl any more.’
Ari also spoke from the heart, giving her advice to any other young people who have trans relatives.
‘Always be there for them,’ she said.
‘Support them, listen to them, have an open mind and an open heart, and just always be there for them 100%.’
Her twin brothers Griffen and Sander revealed how they struggled with a lack of educational resources, especially aimed at children, to help them understand what being transgender meant for their sister.
Griffen said: ‘Being so young, we didn’t understand what being transgender was.’
He added: ‘As we’ve become older it’s just become natural that Jazz was our sister. Just, through time, it just became so natural that I don’t even think of the fact that she’s transgender.’
‘She’s just my sister, that’s it.’
Mom Jeanette shared the heart-breaking moment she had to tell her little girl to wear her boy clothes to school so she didn’t get bullied.
Holding back tears, she said: ‘She wanted to know, ‘can girls play sports?’, and I said girls can do anything they want to do.
‘And she was so happy, and she was dancing around. That was such a great moment, i just loved her and wanted to see her happy – and it made her so happy, but she wasn’t allowed to go to school like that, which was awful, because this kid, it just made her day.
‘She looked up at me with these eyes, and I knew that I was going to do whatever it took to make her happy. I didn’t care what anybody thought, I just wanted her to be happy.’
Speaking ahead of the first episode, Jazz said: ‘I’m so lucky, because my family has taught me what unconditional love means, and that’s honestly all I need.’
I Am Jazz airs on US channel TLC at 10/9C this evening, July 15.
The post Trans teen Jazz Jennings’ family are so supportive it hurts appeared first on Gay Star News.
Mel Spencer
www.gaystarnews.com/article/trans-teen-jazz-jennings-family-are-so-supportive-it-hurts/
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