Coming out is never easy — and when you're coming out to someone who's more than 60 years your senior, there's more to overcome than in the usual "here, Grandma, let me explain the internet" conversation. But when 11-year-old Gavin Cueto told his grandma that he's transgender, it was surprisingly smooth sailing. In fact, Nana Elaine puts any tired stereotype about close-minded older folks to shame.
"She was so supportive, and told me that if this was something I wanted to do, then I had to go and do it," Cueto, now 20, says in a YouTube video. He posted the video, a Q&A with his grandma, to share his coming out story — and show just how much Nana Elaine helped along the way.
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Cueto, who was assigned female at birth, explains in the video that as soon as he learned what "transgender" meant, he knew it described him. At age 11, too nervous to talk to his mom, he decided to confide in his grandma.
"Gavin was staying the night," Elaine explains in the video, "and I’d had half a lager, so I was tired, and I was about to go to bed. Gavin came in wanting to talk to me. He said, 'Nan, I’ve got something to tell you. I want to be a boy.' I said, 'Wouldn’t we all?' We’d all like to be a man, because they’ve got a better life than us."
Elaine adds that although she initially "didn't understand it was possible to be born in the wrong body," she had no trouble believing Gavin when he said he was truly a boy. "It made sense in a way," she says. "We knew there was something wrong, so it was nice then to know what it was so that we could help."
Elaine gave Gavin the money to go to London and start his transition — and she even picked out his new name. "I like the name Gavin," she says proudly, and her grandson adds that he chose his new middle name, Samuel, because it was Elaine's last name before marriage. Could these two get any cuter?
To see the pair's adorable banter in full, watch the video below. We wish every trans teen out there had an Elaine.
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