Not long after learning to speak, Ryland declared to her parents: 'I am a boy.' Even though the toddler lived in a room painted pink, sported long blonde hair and was dressed by her parents in girly outfits, she naturally gravitated toward everything masculine. At first, Jeff Whittington, a former firefighter-turned-real estate agent, and his wife, ignored the signs, thinking that Ryland was just a tomboy, or that it was a phase that soon will pass.
But by the time Ryland turned five, she started actively rejecting everything feminine and soon was overwhelmed with a sense of shame.'When the family dies, I will cut my hair so I could be a boy,' Ryland had told her parents on one occasion. Another time, the child exclaimed in anguish: 'Why did god make me like this?'
Determined to prevent their child from becoming a statistic, the Whittingtons decided to wholeheartedly embrace Ryland's true identity. The parents cut the toddler's blonde locks, bought a new masculine wardrobe and started using the male pronounces 'he' and 'him' when referring to Ryland. They also redecorated his room, doing away with pink furniture and bedding to make Ryland feel more comfortable.
