Jacob Lemay is a happy, well-adjusted 5-year-old who's proud of his books, his stuffed animals and the planets and stars adorning his bedroom — but he might not be had his parents not accepted that he is a transgender boy and let him live as one. By age two, Jacob, whose parents initially were raising him as a daughter, knew and was telling his parents he was a boy. By the time he was four, his parents were encouraging his gender transition, a process doctors agree can be accomplished far more easily the sooner families accept it and help. For young kids who consistently say they want to be the gender other than the one they were raised as and who show other signs they might be transgender, one expert says, "the biggest harm is not to do anything." Jacob, for his parent, is now attending a new pre-school where no kids knew him by his previous name, and his parents support his journey.
