Two years ago, 17-year-old Arin Andrews was a girl named Emerald....and 19-year-old Katie Hill was a boy named Luke. The two Tulsa, Oklahoma teens, who met at a transgender workshop became very close to each other. And after Katie underwent gender reassignment surgery a year ago, Arin likewise decided to take the plunge and undergo the surgery as well, getting his breasts removed.
“I hated my breasts, I always felt like they didn't belong. Now I finally feel comfortable in my own body. Now when I’m out in a public pool or lifting weights, no one raises an eyebrow. They just think I’m a guy. I can wear a tank top, which I couldn't before, and I can go swimming shirtless. I can just be a regular guy. And I’m so lucky to have my family and Katie to rely on.”
And Katie?
“To me, Arin’s just my Arin. He’s always looked manly to me. But now he’s had the surgery he’s much more confident and comfortable with himself. Being transgender myself, I understand Arin better than anybody else — how good he feels and how complete he feels.”
They're now just your average teenage couple in love:
Yeah,love always finds a way. Shakespeare would have written this one up in a heartbeat.
4 comments:
So, I guess God made a mistake huh? Gee and I thought by definition God is perfect and incapable of a mistake. Of course, if you reject the very concept of divinity, then essentially you are left with, life sucks (to one degree or another but sooner or later it is over...) and then you die.
BTW and perhaps its just me but I can tell that the girl is a guy. (face not lack of boobs)
Hello Geoffrey,
Nice to hear from you.
Based on your remarks, I take it you would disparage anyone whom had surgery to repair a cleft palate,cataracts, a harelip, or a congenital heart defect?
As a matter of fact, that leaves out most medical care, doesn't it? We should avoid vaccinations and suffer through cholera,malaria, TB, diphtheria and polio, no?
Just FTR, this has nothing to do with a Divine 'mistake'. Both of these people were born with healthy, fully functional bodies. But for some reason they felt psychologically uncomfortable in them and resorted to medical science to change that. I don't see that as any more 'wrong' than repairing a cleft palate.
I also think that if G-d did not want us to have the healing arts and medical science, we wouldn't.
-Rob-
I don't think the analogy holds Rob. As you say, "Both of these people were born with healthy, fully functional bodies". The conditions you cite are physical dysfunctions, by definition the body is not whole and healthy.
As you state, these two suffer from a psychological condition and their methodology for correcting that condition is to correct the physical condition that they are unhappy with, that implicitly declares that God has made a 'mistake', rather than addressing their psychological condition.
So no, I'm not disparaging them specifically, I'm disparaging the idea that this is a 'fix' that actually gets at the root of the problem.
Correct me if I'm mistaken but my understanding is that they can't procreate, correct? I don't think that's a minor matter, this type of thing is leading us into some very deep bioethical waters, such as; "UK takes step toward 'three-parent babies'"
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/28/health/uk-health-dna-ivf
I think the analogy works quite well. After all, they felt uncomfortable with their bodies. Someone with a hairlip could choose to live with it too. Or a bald man could choose to stay bald rather than get a hair transplant. That too is a matter of psychology.
They chose to correct what they felt was wrong using surgical rather than psychological means, which is a choice I think they had the right to make. It might very well have been the easier and most effective of the two choices.
As for procreation,let's keep in mind that lots of otherwise healthy heterosexual couples don't procreate.
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