[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Like a lot of boys his age, there's not much Evan Singleton enjoys more than racing off into the wind outside his home in suburban Dallas—the freedom to do what he wants and to be who he is. But to understand who he is, you need to know about the day Evan stopped being who he is not.
If somebody came to me and suggested that my parenting skills were, possibly, going to make my sons gay, after I'd stop laughing, I'd point out that sexuality is to do with genetics, and not to do with environment. My hopes for them in the future is that they're happy. I really don't care what they do, or who they are, as long as they're good people, and they're happy. That's all I want for them.
EVAN SINGLETON: I think the best day of my life was that day, period, when everybody finally got it, that I was a boy, not a girl.
NARRATOR: Evan's story, you might guess, is complicated. He was born with the body of a girl. That's him when he was called Evie. But he always knew in his heart that he felt like a boy. So one day, he got a haircut and threw out all of his dresses.
EVAN SINGLETON: I want to say I felt confused, because I finally felt true.
NARRATOR: And even though underneath all that, his body stayed the same, Evan knows who he is.
EVAN SINGLETON: I'm a boy. I'm a boy. I know that. But I'm also a transgender boy, which I'm [NO AUDIO]
MAN: It absolutely does.
NARRATOR: Transgender at age 12, and living in—you heard it—Texas. The staunchly conservative old West. It's hardly a place known for taking a progressive approach in such circumstances, but Texas, like the rest of America, is transitioning.
[KNOCKS ON DOOR]
XIMENA LOPEZ: Hello.
NARRATOR: Leading the charge—Ximena Lopez, Lead Physician for a new program at the Children's Medical Center in Dallas called GENECIS. Evan's case sparked the program.
XIMENA LOPEZ: Any new changes with your body?
NARRATOR: Here, the aim is to help people like Evan—young people who identify as one gender but have the body of the other. The treatment—
XIMENA LOPEZ: And then can I see your implant?
EVAN SINGLETON: Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: --an implant with medication—
EVAN SINGLETON: There's fuzz sticking out of it.
NARRATOR: --to suppress puberty.
XIMENA LOPEZ: Puberty itself causes distress in these children. Many of them, when they're young and little, they just hope that magically they are going to wake up one morning and have the body they're praying for. They're praying god to make them in a girl or a boy. And suddenly, it's not only happening, but it's actually going in the wrong direction.
NARRATOR: For such kids, she says that often leads to depression, self-mutilation, or worse.
XIMENA LOPEZ: The incidence of suicide can be up to 60%. I want you to be a little bit older.
NARRATOR: Evan's too young for surgery that would change his body parts. So suppressing puberty, which is reversible, not only spares him such emotional trauma, but it buys time for Evan and others like him to think hard about the future.
XIMENA LOPEZ: So you see yourself as a guy who's shaving?
EVAN SINGLETON: Yep.
NARRATOR: Because the overriding question for all of it is, how can doctors be certain it's not just whimsy?
MEREDITH CHAPMAN: Hi, Evan.
NARRATOR: That's where Meredith Chapman comes in. She's a psychiatrist at the clinic who assesses kids like Evan before puberty suppression is approved.
MEREDITH CHAPMAN: How are you all doing?
NARRATOR: She looks only for those like Evan, who have never wavered, who have always insisted their bodies are wrong.
MEREDITH CHAPMAN: Evan is a boy. From the very first day I met him. I mean, there wasn't any doubt in my mind that Evan was a boy.
NARRATOR: There's no test, she says. The science on this is young. But transgender kids—they just know.
MEREDITH CHAPMAN: You're just moved by them. And I think all of that—whatever social, cultural context you bring melts away when you're just interacting with a child who wants to be who they are.
XIMENA LOPEZ: We've encountered people, especially from conservative religious beliefs, that think that god made us men and god made us women, and we are not allowed to change that. And I don't think this is about religion. This is about human beings that are born different, feel different, and we need to help them. And us providers, this is our role, to help them. Can you sit up? I felt I was saving somebody's life. And I don't get to do that every day.
NARRATOR: And consider as well, there are more transgender Texans than you might imagine.
BOY: I think it was right before I had top surgery.
NARRATOR: At a community center not far from the hospital, we met plenty of people who could only dream they'd had such treatment when they were young.
KATE SMITH: So it's kind of stressful, because—
NARRATOR: Kate Smith grew up a girl in a boy's body, at times feeling suicidal in unforgiving rural Texas. She now curses those who've denounced the GENECIS program as a form of child abuse.
KATE SMITH: Wouldn't it be child abuse to have your child who's sick, and you just don't ever get them help? I mean, if that could have spared me just one more year of the agony I had as a kid, that's not child abuse. That's helping people with—It's helping someone who needs it with something that actually does help.
NARRATOR: At her side is Paula Ellis, who's 52, who suffered a lifetime of emotional hell, including two broken marriages before transitioning just two years ago. She likewise applauds GENECIS for work that she underlines is critical.
PAULA ELLIS: We know who we are, and it is unalterable, and you cannot suppress it without destroying us. And it very nearly ended my life more than once, and no one should put their kid through that.
NARRATOR: What would they say to Evan?
KATE SMITH: You're not going to lose all those years I lost, and that's how it is. That's how it feels to me, is I lost those years.
PAULA ELLIS: I'm really proud of him for what he's doing. That there will be times when it's hard, but he needs to just keep going.
NARRATOR: Proudest of all are Evan's parents, who, as Texas and the rest of the country move forward on this issue, want nothing more for their son than simply a happy life. Their hope is that the work at the hospital and all the attention on Evan will help bring acceptance and understanding for everyone.
FATHER: I know that when my friends—some of my friends and family are now told Evan is transgender, now they have someone that they have been close to, that they love that, they know, that maybe contradicts what their opinion was. And that's how it starts to change.
MOTHER: As we as adults start to formulate and make these solutions and make these paths easier for these children, Evan wants to be a part of that solution from the child's perspective, and say, hey, it gets better. Just wait. Just hang in there.
EVAN SINGLETON: Pass it.
NARRATOR: Back outside, Evan's friend, Ryan, has stopped by for some basketball. They've been pals for about a month, but Ryan learned of the whole gender thing only the day before we got there. So we asked him about that.
RYAN: Like, I was shocked, because I was like, well, OK, he is. And I got used to it. See, I'm actually really good at getting used us strange things. So yeah, when I heard about this, I was like, OK, cool.
EVAN SINGLETON: Going for the layup. I am very, very, very, very, very grateful to have a friend that accepts me for who I am. Yay!
NARRATOR: And so, as boys do, they board and blade away the rest of their day. For Evan, it's a path few before have taken, but more and more are joining.
EVAN SINGLETON: Eventually, people will be able to go out and be them. If a boy wants to wear a dress, then bam, he can go out without people staring and looking or whispering. So the fact that the US is changing means a lot. It means the world is finally moving on.
NARRATOR: And so it is that a boy's life awaits.
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