Meet Hunter before changing genders
https://abc11.com/duke-gender-clinic-hospital-transgender-identity/989285/
DURHAM (WTVD) -- Duke Medicine has created a new Gender Clinic to offer a wide variety of services under one roof to children and teens dealing with gender issues.
These can range from issues with genitalia that hasn't properly developed, to issues with going through puberty, to even helping transgender kids and teens. These are services that have proven to be a huge help to one Raleigh family.
MEET HUNTER
Hunter Schafer is a beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, all-American looking girl. With a warm smile and a gracious, self-assured manner, she conveys both intelligence and maturity beyond her years.
Perhaps that's because at just 16 she's already been on a journey of self-discovery and introspection that led her to a conclusion that has completely reshaped who she is, or at least who she presents as. That's because Hunter was actually born a boy, but says she now identifies as female. It's not a decision made on a whim, either. Instead, she says it's the product of years of feeling that something wasn't quite right.
Hunter Schafer, age 7
"When I was in preschool we had a dress-up box and I would go there every day and take out the pink princess dress and put it on," Hunter recalls.
As Hunter got older she started to do some research to explain why she felt and acted the way she did. She started attending LGBT Youth Groups and the LGBT Center of Raleigh, and that's when she was introduced to a term she hadn't heard of or at least understood before, "Transgender."
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"I met some transgender people, or people who didn't identify with the two binary genders, and that kind of opened my eyes," she explains.
And then, after careful consideration and soul searching, she approached her parents to share the news.
PARENTS REACT
"I was shocked. I think I said, 'No, you're not,' because I didn't understand the weight behind what Hunter was really saying. And, what I didn't understand at that point, was who Hunter felt that she was on the inside," shared Hunter's mom, Katy.