By : มานี
Jamie Bruesehoff, a mother of three and lifelong Lutheran, is married to a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. One of Bruesehoff’s children, 10-year-old Rebekah, identifies as transgender and her family and church has been nothing but supportive.Writing on Medium, Jamie explained how anxious their daughter felt as she came to realise her gender identity.

One of Bruesehoff’s children, 10-year-old Rebekah, identifies as transgender and her family and church has been nothing but supportive.

Writing on Medium, Jamie explained how anxious their daughter felt as she came to realise her gender identity. In the years before she transitioned to live as her authentic self in the world, my husband and I watched our child grow more and more anxious. “We watched as she became increasingly uncomfortable in her own body and confused about her place in the world,” Jamie wrote. “We had a seven-year-old child who pushed out the screen of her second story window and tried to jump out, a seven-year-old child who wanted to die – we have never been more scared in our lives. The mother went on to explain that with the help of professionals and love, they were able to bring their daughter “back from that window ledge” and giver her the tools and space to “unpack her identity”. “We all came to realise she wasn’t a boy. She was a girl. At eight years old, we changed her name and pronouns and she began living as herself in the world.

“She immediately transformed into a confident, joyful child whose smile lights up an entire room,” Jamie added. The mother went on to write that they did not “understand the science” around their daughters gender identity, but they were confident in knowing “that God created each and every one of us in God’s own image.” “God does not love our daughter in spite of her gender identity. God did not put her in the wrong body. This is who she has always been, who God created her to be, and like I’ve heard from so many who want to dispute transgender identities, God doesn’t make mistakes. “As beloved children of God, we are one. We are one body in Christ. My daughter is transgender, and she is okay,” Jamie wrote.

Before signing off the letter the mother made a stand with Gavin Grimm in his upcoming Supreme Court. “This case may specifically be about a transgender child’s ability to use the proper restroom, but it really is so much more than that. “This is about dignity and compassion for transgender people. This is about the right to be who you are in the world with the same rights and protections of any other individual,” she wrote.