I had felt uncomfortable as a woman my whole life.

So when I was about 13 or 14, I realized I was attracted to women and then made the assumption that I was a lesbian, and didn't realize that that wasn't the case. It was the fact that I was a man and a heterosexual man. The issue wasn't my sexual orientation, but rather my gender identity.

I wanted to show America a different kind of man. If there was someone like me when I was growing up, my whole life would have been different.

As you get older it's more confusing. Suddenly, there's more pressure to fit in to your assigned gender.

Deep down, my mom had long suspected I was gay... Much of her anger and hurt came from her sense of betrayal that she was the last to be told.

A lot of parents never speak to their transgender kids again that's not the case in my family.

I felt like one of the boys. My friends were boys. In school I related to boys.