An 11-year-old “transgender” child became the youngest grand marshal at Orlando’s “Come Out With Pride” festival on Saturday, according to multiple reports.
The child, Dempsey Jara, is reportedly a “transgender girl.” Jara’s parents claim they knew their son was “transgender” since he was 18 months old.
“Being transgender is not about a choice,” Jara said at the event, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s about being true to myself. It’s about embracing who I am even when the world tries to tell me otherwise. It’s about standing tall in my identity even when it’s really hard.”
Jara’s mother, Jaime Jara, 45, is a teacher. She told the outlet that Dempsey is a girl because he’s “always gravitated toward girl things, girls’ toys.”
“We didn’t have any of that stuff at home. She has two older brothers,” Jaime Jara said. “She’d say, ‘I’m a girl in my heart and my brain.’ She’s been on this journey since she was 5 and she’s living her best life.”
11 year old boy whose parents claimed he was trans at 18 months old becomes Grand Marshall for LGBTQI+ pride festival.
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) October 23, 2023
Transgender Dempsey Jara began his transition aged 5 after his mother claimed he knew he was trans since ‘18 months.’
His mother claims “She's been on this… pic.twitter.com/dR6lBRvFfh
Four years ago, Jara’s parents were interviewed by Daily Mail. At the time, Jaime Jara said that she had been accused of child abuse for helping her child transition.
“Our former pediatrician told us that Dempsey was just going through a phase wearing dresses and said 'transgenderism' isn't real,” Jaime said. ”Dempsey has been gender non-conforming since the age of eighteen months old, basically since she was able to express herself. She always gravitated to dolls, dresses and sparkly objects.”
Jaime Jara set up an Instagram account to document her child’s gender transition.
“Once I began sharing our daughter's journey publicly, I started receiving a flood of messages and calls from friends, acquaintances and absolute strangers in similar situations asking for help and guidance with their transgender or gender non-conforming children,” Jamie said. “'I feel that in a small way I am doing my part helping the very marginalized transgender community. Being a parent is never easy, it takes everything you have, pretty much every single day.”
For years, LGBTQ+ supporters have pushed so-called “gender affirming” care, which includes hormone therapy treatment, puberty blockers, and sex reassignment surgery, towards children. This type of treatment is experimental, irreversible, and Townhall has reported how people who underwent this kind of surgery have lived to regret it.