[MUSIC] My son was born a girl 11 years ago. And at the age of 2, one of the first sign, in his crib, there was this border which had unicorns on them. And he just ripped off this unicorn border that was around on the bedroom. It was almost like looking back we can see him coming out right there and then, and saying, this isn't me. [LAUGH] Then it came down to toys. Really, if we went to Toys'R'Us it was the classic, I don't want anything to do with that pink area here. Then going to pre-K, Pre-K was where the gender line started to come up, so boy and girl lines, and we had reports that my son would hide when they'd come to actually line up, and it was heartbreaking. And we talked to the school, and our school was wonderful, they listened. And we started generating a and b lines. And even to this day, we separate the lines between odds and evens or a and b, there's no gender lines. But we still didn't know then, we really thought it was like a tomboy phase. I might be jumping ahead on years, but there was the haircut, and he wanted the Shiloh haircut. We went through all those phases, and then of course the underwear. The underwear was really important. My son really wanted to change his underwear to the Spiderman and Batman full of powerful superheroes. And my wife she was looking up transgender, and we knew right at the very beginning that it didn't mean sex, it meant identity, but it took several years from just hearing transgender to understanding transgender. [MUSIC] In first and second grade, that's where the bullying started in the bathrooms. That was pretty hard. [MUSIC] Because people just don't know, people just don't get it. So not only was he bullied at the bathroom, he was bullied outside. So, we would allow him to go to the women's bathroom when we're in the restaurant if it was nearby. And the women would comment and say, you're in the wrong place, son. And that was what they were doing at school. There was a lot of kids who were just saying, you don't look like you should be here. You're in the wrong place. And that was really, really heartbreaking because of, [MUSIC] He didn't have anybody to blame, because these people outside just haven't got concept. And we at the time really didn't have a concept to our vocabulary. And so when he was in third grade, I think, we started to go to gender spectrum. And as an engineer, I wanted a tool kit. I didn't want a tool kit to fix, because I knew this wasn't something to fix, it was really a tool kit to understand. And even on the first time we went to gender spectrum I got the vocabulary, I got the tools that we needed. And one of the most important things for me was coming up with the analogy that our child is a ship with the compass being their happiness, and that's it, nothing else. They're leading the way and we are as parents ensuring that they are happy. And that's a hard thing to do, because sometimes where they want to go is not accepted by society. [MUSIC] Gender really is right at the very root. [MUSIC] You're born, and you're looking around and you're in a girls body, but you don't feel like a girl. And if a father cannot accept that, I think probably the easiest way, instead of saying do this, just try and imagine yourself, just try and go back, be born a girl, and just put yourself in their shoes. Say I was born with a vagina and I'm still a man going all the way through. And I think if you could try and imagine that, then you could really have a lot more empathy, not sympathy, but empathy for your child. [MUSIC] We started seeing a pediatric endocrinologist. We see him on a regular basis. We're at the point where her period might start. So we're going to allow his period to start and then go on to puberty blockers and then make the decision. I mean it's totally down to his choice. The issue about puberty blockers and testosterone afterwards, I think it's in a sense almost as if you were diabetic and you need to live. So diabetics take insulin. If you want to be the gender that you want to be, then you might have to take medication, and that's it. It's not rocket science. I hope he can be who he wants to be, and I hope he will grow up in a world that is accepting. And I hope that he will be safe. [MUSIC] Yeah, I mean that's what it comes down to as a parent, our fundamental thing is to keep our children safe. [MUSIC] If you hold the space for your child, you will become not only more connected with your child, but more connected with what this whole thing of being a human is about. [MUSIC]