Transgender Woman Shares How She Asked Her Daughter "If Daddy Could Become Mummy"
"To me, you're the most important person, and without your support it could never have happened."
By Katrina Khairul Azman — 02 Apr 2019, 05:49 PM
In conjunction with Transgender Day Of Visibility on 31 March, a transgender woman shared with non-profit The T Project about how she transitioned from man to woman while raising a young daughter
In the video published on YouTube, the unnamed Singaporean woman revealed that while she enjoyed wearing dresses as a 10-year-old boy, it never occurred to her to become a woman when she was growing up.
However, when she was an adult male going through a divorce, the thoughts began to enter her mind.
Still identifying as a 'he', the woman started to wonder why she loved cross-dressing so much.
That was when she learned what it meant to be 'transgender' through the website SG Butterfly, which hosts articles and discussions for transgender people in Singapore.
After reading up on being transgender, the woman decided to ask her then nine-year-old daughter how she would feel about her father "transitioning"
"Whether I transition or didn't transition, I can live with it," she said, explaining that she would have brought the secret of wanting to become a woman to her grave if her child did not approve.
"Because to me, you're the most important person, and without your support it could never have happened," she told her daughter.
"The most important part that I remember is you asking me how I would feel if Daddy becomes Mummy", the daughter said.
She was immediately "very sure" that she wanted to give her blessing.
After that conversation, her father decided to go through with the transition to become a woman.
"To me, it didn't feel like something very, very big," the daughter said.
"It was just nice that about the time that I was hitting puberty, I had my mum to go through puberty with me," she added, referring to the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) required in the process of transitioning.
"As a single parent, whether I am trans or not, life isn't easy," the woman said.
She revealed that aside from being the sole breadwinner, she was concerned that her daughter would be bullied in primary school due to her transition, as "kids are innocent, they say what they see."
However, the pair was grateful that they did not encounter such issues.
"They still came over to our house to do homework and to get together," the woman said.
The daughter also recalled feeling elated when the school replaced the word 'Father' on her report card with 'Mother'.
The young woman acknowledged that not all children of transgender people would be as accepting as she was because "that's just how the world works"
"Being a parent as well as a friend to her makes her open up to me," the transgender woman added.
"Family has to feel respected, then things will work out."