Beiruting News

The parents of a five-year-old transgender boy are sharing their son's story with the world in a bid to prove that there is no such thing as being 'too young' to identify as transgender.

Massachusetts couple Mimi and Joe Lemay's son Jacob wasn't always a boy. The five-year-old was born Mia, the second of three sisters.

But from a very early age, Jacob began rejecting his gender. And after years of questioning how to handle his preferences, before finally coming to terms with what their son wanted, the Lemays explained to NBC News that they decided to let their child assume the identity of a boy.

Mimi and Joe began to notice that Jacob was having difficulties when he was a toddler. Then named Mia, he would insist on changing his clothes 10 to 12 times a day, in an attempt to find something he felt comfortable in, before his parents bought him a blue 'doggy sweater' that he wore for six months straight - often over girlier dresses and tutus.

The couple assumed they were just raising a tomboy. 'She would take on "boy" personas, and just always want to play with boy things,' said Joe.

'Her need to play boy roles, and her need to be seen or spoken to as a boy at home became very persistent,' added Mimi.

Then, shortly before he turned three, Jacob declared himself a boy.