ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The Whittington family found out early on their 5-year-old child Ryland, who was born a girl, identifies as a boy.
"When we found out that Ryland was deaf around his first birthday and we got him cochlear implants, and some of his first words were, ‘I am a boy.’ We thought it was a phase at first and we thought it was cute,” Hillary Whittington, Ryland’s mother, said.
Whittington said at first he didn’t understand what Ryland was saying and tried explaining she was born a girl.
Once they say they realized this wasn’t a phase, the family stopped pushing their child to conform and they embraced his decision.
"He's been living the past three years as our son. We have seen him grow with happiness and confidence,” Whittington said.
A video originally made for Ryland Whittington’s teachers was played during a GLBT event.
"I let my mom and dad share the video, and they say I helped a lot of transgender people,” said Ryland Whittington.
The family members have now become advocates for the trans-community. On Monday, they were honored for their work by the LGBT Center of Central Florida.
The parents told Eyewitness News they have more work to do, especially the recent controversy surrounding transgender people and bathrooms.
"They're fearful of pedophiles and using that law to their advantage to be able to access restrooms that are of their opposite gender,” said Jeff Whittington.
The Whittingtons said along with praise for their decisions, they have received a lot of backlash, but they want people to know they’re normal people.
“We just want the same rights for our child that everyone else has, and until that happens we won’t give up,” said Hillary Whittington.
Contact Myrt Price for more on this story.
Cox Media Group
