Kelly Jones, the lead singer of rock band Stereophonics, has spoken publicly about his experiences of being the parent of a transgender child.
His son Colby transitioned gender earlier this year and the 46 year old singer says he’s learned a lot from talking to his son. Jones shared his experiences on the High Performance podcast.
“I’ve learned a lot from him,” Jones said, sharing that he’s been on a journey of discovery about transgender issues. Jones said a lot of people told him his child was “just going through a phase” but he said listening carefully had shown him it was a serious issue.
“I’ve learned a lot from all my kids. You can’t stop learning from them really. I mean Colby’s episode was, you’ve got a young kid telling you something’s not right. And you think it’s about a sexuality thing, and it slowly trickles into a gender situation. And then I look around and I’m thinking: ‘Well, who can I talk to about this?’”
Jones said he struggled to find other parents he could talk to who had a similar experience.
“I can talk to people about having kids from different mothers. I can talk to people about most things, but this is like, I’ve got no idea what’s going on here,” he said.
“Once I realised that was actually happening, it was a case of, I have to do my research and go and talk to some therapist to get help, to get him therapists because he’s at an age where you’re not an adult, but you’re not a child and this in-between.”
Jones said when he looked at how his son was dressing in masculine clothing and standing out from his peers he realised that Colby was showing great courage to be true to himself.
PFLAG – the Parent and Friends of Lesbians and Gays – is a great local support organisation for parents that also welcomes the parents of people who are transgender, regardless of how old your child is. TransFolk of WA is another great support organisation.
Look at our Community Groups page to find their details.
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