It's not easy to learn that your son is your daughter, or vice versa. 

 

But it was harder for Kimberly Shappley who is deeply religious.

 

A conservative Christian from Texas, Kimberly initially fought the idea that her boy could be anything but a boy.

 

As an infant, she put him in blue clothes. As a toddler, she made him do what she describes as “typical boy stuff,” like playing football and fishing.

 

“We tried to make this kid be a boy,” she told ABC13.

 

But it was no use. Joseph continued to seek out what his sister Daisy had, and by the time he hit three, he was telling everybody that he was actually a ‘she’ – her name, Joseph insisted, was Kai.

 

 

“This hasn’t happened overnight for us. I am a Christian and I love the Lord,” she said.

 

But one night, Kimberly overheard her Kai’s heartbreaking prayer, and it was then that she realised she had to support her child – boy or girl.

 

“I overheard Kai praying and asking the Lord to please take Joseph home to be with Jesus and I realised Kai was begging the Lord to let her die,” she said, through tears.

 

So the next day, Kimberly went shopping and bought her ‘son’ what he’d always wanted: girls’ underwear.

 

It wasn’t an easy decision. In fact, it took her three trips to the shops before she could bring herself to make the purchase.

 

Difficult as it was, it made Kai’s day.

 

 

“When Kai came home that day and opened the drawer and saw princess panties, she fell down on the floor with the panties, crying and thanking me that this was the best day ever,” she said.

 

While she was delighted that her child was so pleased, Kimberly continued to struggle with the messages she received from local pastors, who she says reassured her that

 

“Christians are not going to have a transgender child, because as a Christian, that goes against everything we read in scripture.”

 

Feeling lost and alone, Kimberly was buoyed to discover an underground Facebook group of more than 2,000 other Christian mums with transgender kids.

 

She found support in the stories of other mums who had faced criticism, some who had even been threatened by those who had vowed to take their kids away.

 

 

“We knew that, at some point, if someone found out that our child was transgender, that you could put our safety at risk,” she said.

 

Unfortunately, Kai’s battle isn’t over yet. Her school, the Pearland Independent School District, won’t let her use the girls’ toilets.

 

“We have to take a stand,” mum Kimberly said.

 

And she has, by teaming up with the non-profit organisation Equality Texas, to take on the fight.

 

“It wasn’t about water fountains in 1960,” she said, referring to the racial segregation that went on back then, “and it’s not about toilets today. Kai is not a threat to your children, but when you teach your children that my kid is a monster, then your kids are a threat to mine, and that’s not fair.”

 

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