When A Child Says He's Transgender

This week, WBUR has been airing a special series on transgenderism. Reporter Martha Bebinger has been following a 16 year old boy named Nate who was born a girl and who came out to his parents, friends and teachers as a transgender boy.

Nate's story and Martha's series have raised a host of issues around transgender teenagers. Among them, the challenge it poses to many parents: how can they be sure their child's decision to change his or her gender is the right one and that they're old enough and prepared to live with the consequences forever?

And once a young person changes gender, what challenges does he or she face? What kinds of support are out there? These are some of the questions we're going to spend some time with now.

Join WBUR for a live chat to answer any questions about transgender or genderqueer issues beginning at 12 p.m. on Friday, January 24.

Norman Spack, pediatric endocrinologist and of of the founders of the Gender Management Service Clinic at Boston Children's Hospital

Logan Ferraro, a 22-year-old transgender male and an events coordinator for BAGLY, Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth

New Yorker "(G)ender surgery in late childhood may no longer seem extreme. Because this change is happening so fast, and amid a flurry of mostly positive media attention, it can be hard to recognize what a radical social experiment it is."

WBUR This week WBUR began our series on living transgender, following the story of a 16-year-old female-to-male transgender teenager, and the personal, emotional and medical challenges that arise during the transition process.