In an interview with Katie Couric, Jazz
Jennings says that being transgender is not a choice.
Jazz first appeared in the media at the
age of six. Eight years later, she has released a new book, I
Am Jazz.
“I wanted to write this book so I
could help other kids who are really struggling to find out who they
are,” Jazz said in the interview. “It's not geared towards just
LGBTQ kids, but kids of any difference of any type.”
Couric asked Jazz to respond to critics
who say gender dysphoria cannot be diagnosed at such a young age.
“I think some people probably have
the point of view that it's impossible to determine your gender
identity at such a young age. And they might say, this is just a
phase. I'm curious what you would say to people who believe that?”
Couric asked.
“It wasn't a phase. People say that
age two is too young to identify what gender they are. And to me
that's incorrect, because at two years old you're wearing girl
clothes or boy clothes and you're gravitating towards different
dolls. And for me, it was just a little bit different. I went down
a different path and it wasn't encouraged by my parents at all.
Because this is not a choice. This is just the way I was born. This
is who I am and I didn't make myself this way.”
Jazz was recently named one of Time's
“25 most influential teens of 2014.”
Watch the entire segment at Yahoo!
News.