I'm just a regular guy. All these ideas that children shouldn't watch me, I'm going to be confusing, all this stuff, it's crazy.
A lot of parents never speak to their transgender kids again; that's not the case in my family.
I felt like one of the boys. My friends were boys. In school I related to boys.
What mom cares about most is that I'm happy, healthy and enjoying my life.
When I realised I was transgender I was so afraid of what my transition would do to everyone else in my life and how they would react to it and would I be rejected?
I was never religious.
I've waited my whole life to be able to have body hair - but I never thought I'd have back hair. But what are you going to do, right?
In school I related to boys.
I always felt like the male from the time I was a child. There wasn't much feminine about me.
As you get older it's more confusing. Suddenly, there's more pressure to fit in to your assigned gender.
When I was really little, it was very clear to me that I felt like a boy, and my friends were all boys.
I had felt uncomfortable as a woman my whole life.
I feel really good, I feel like a man now, and I'm really happy.
For me, it was never a question of whether or not I was transgender. It was a question of what I'd be able to handle transitioning and having to do it in the public eye. One of the issues that was hard for me to overcome was the fear of that.
I came out around 25 publicly.
I absolutely believe in assimilation. I don't believe I'm any different from straight people. My wants and needs are the same as theirs. I don't look at sexual orientation as that big of a deal. It's just an orientation.
Deep down, my mom had long suspected I was gay... Much of her anger and hurt came from her sense of betrayal that she was the last to be told.
When you transition, everyone kind of has to transition around you.
I've been an activist in the LGBT community for a long time. I think nothing's changed, I'm just a little bit more focused on the 'T' now than I was on the 'L' or the 'G.'
People who don't have gender dysphoria aren't going to catch it by watching me dance on television.
