StarTribune.com – By Fran Henry, Newhouse News Service
If a child is confused about his or her sexual identity, there are sources for help.
Cleveland – When words failed her, Deena expressed herself the old-fashioned way — she screamed and sobbed. She was never so fluent as the morning she graduated to big-girl panties.
As the 3-year-old convulsed with emotion, her mother finally understood. Deena wanted to wear boy’s underwear, not panties.
“It was a need,” her mother, Carol, said. “She wouldn’t have left the house otherwise.”
The little girl also refused to wear dresses and get her hair beaded. She wanted a penis like her brothers so she could urinate standing up. She was vehemently disturbed by pictures of herself at 18 months in a dress and braids.
The pieces began to fit. Carol and her husband understood that their now 9-year-old girl identifies as a boy.