In what is understood to be a world-first, a mother and father both changed sex before the birth of their first child.
In the confusing case, the boy’s mother Joyce was seven months pregnant before realising she was expecting, because she had been taking testosterone to try to become a man.
Her husband Jason had a sex change to assume a female appearance after undergoing surgery in Thailand – six months before the baby was born.
Online
The Pennsylvanian couple, who met online, claim to be the world’s first transgender parents to have a child without undergoing fertility treatment.
They were profiled by a British national newspaper last week.
Joyce said she now goes by the name of “Cai”, and Jason wants to be known as “Emily”.
Roles
Joyce said: “From the moment I realised we were having a baby there was no question about our roles – Emily (Jason) was the mother and I was his father.
“It made no difference who was actually giving birth.
“And I always called myself Daddy – even if I was talking to him in my tummy I’d refer to myself as Dad. That’s what I am.”
Equality
Joyce said she did not realise she was transgender until she was at university, saying that she “joined online chat groups and talked to other transgender people”.
She added, “I became certain that I’d been born into the wrong body”.
Last year it emerged the Home Office was considering plans to scrap any mention of a person’s sex on British passports for the sake of “transsexual equality”.
A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that the security implications of such a radical move were being ‘explored’. She added that no decision has yet been taken and discussions were at an early stage.