Photo: via @mi_ylno_namuh.At just 14, R. Kelly's son Jay has publicly self-identified as transgender. Responding to questions on his Ask.fm profile — a social-media Q&A site — Jay revealed that he's known he was male since he was 6 or 7. He said his mother, Andrea Kelly (star of the VH1 reality show Hollywood Exes) has known and supported him for a year. His father, however, has remained silent.
"My dad has not reached out," he shared. Jay's parents divorced in 2009 after 13 years of marriage. The Daily Mail reports that R. Kelly stays in contact with his son, Robert Jr., but has distanced himself from Jay and Jay's older sister, Joann. Luckily, both his mother and sister have accepted Jay unconditionally.
"She was very proud of me," Jay wrote of his mom. "I was like, 'Thank you mom for accepting the fact that I'm a transgender.'" He explained how his family has started to employ the proper gender pronouns — like "handsome" and "brother" — in their vernacular. Jay will eventually undergo sexual-reassignment surgery, too. But, there's some growing up to do before that. The trans* community is swiftly becoming the next big civil-rights movement, so we hope that by the time Jay's ready for surgery, trans* people will be as accepted as lesbians and gays are today. His story is another to add to the growing list of real-life accounts humanizing a demographic that's too often objectified. (The Root)
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