'I've always known I was trapped in the wrong body': Transgender man reveals why he finally feels comfortable
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A young man has shared his incredible journey to becoming his true self after coming out as transgender just eight months ago.
Aiden Martin always knew he was male, but spent his childhood living as Aimee, scared to tell family and friends he felt he was really a boy.
He had first come out as bisexual in an attempt to stop his uncertainty over his identity.
But the 23-year-old eventually plucked up the courage to tell his mother, and later the rest of his family, that he was in fact transgender.
Now Swansea-based Aiden is living as a man, and can finally feel comfortable in his own skin.
Aiden told Wales Online : “I have always known I have been a boy and that I’m transgender.
“I was born in the wrong body. For as long as I can remember I have been a boy.
(Image: Wales Online WS)
“It was really hard before I came out because I was always feeling confused and a bit strange. It was just making me really depressed and anxious.
“I thought that coming out as a lesbian or as bisexual would stop me feeling transgender but it didn’t.
“It was really tricky and hard because I felt like I had to be a girl.”
Transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different to the sex they were assigned at birth.
(Image: Wales Online WS)
After initially coming out eight months ago to his mum Claire, Aiden said he then hid it again and continued to have boyfriends.
Aiden said: “I just thought maybe if I said I was bisexual again that I wouldn’t be transgender but it’s not something I choose, it’s something I’ve been for years since I was born.
“Coming out now has been the best feeling. I’ve had people in my life not accept me and think it’s a phase but it’s not and I don’t expect everyone to understand.”
Despite some negative reaction to coming out, Aiden said the vast majority of his friends and family have been supportive of his decision.
Aiden said: “It took me so long to come out because I just didn’t know how to come out to my family.
“Then at first I told my mum who was pretty shocked obviously, and then I told my father who was not too happy about it really.
“When I told people that I knew, some were shocked but then most were excited for me when I explained it all to them.”
Although attitudes towards transgender issues are changing, Aiden said that some people continue to call him Aimee.
For more than 13 years Aiden has dressed in ‘male’ clothes and now plans to continue his transition further.
(Image: Wales Online WS)
Aiden said: “I always wanted to dress as a boy and from about the age of 10 I did, which my parents were fine with.”
Aiden's next step after coming out for is to be prescribed testosterone, the primary male hormone, and to then have ‘top surgery’ to have his breasts removed.
Aiden said: “It would mean the world to me to start having testosterone. It would be the start of me becoming a man and my body matching up with my mind.”
Figures released by a specialist NHS clinic in May showed that referrals as a result of gender identity issues almost doubled from the previous year.
In 2016 around 2,000 children and young people were referred to the Tavistock Clinic, the only place offering gender identity treatment to young people in England and Wales.