Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Arin and Katie: A Cute Couple With a Bit of a Twist


A pair of teenagers from Oklahoma might seem like your typical young couple, but their love story is unlike many others. The transgender couple actually transitioned together.
Just two years ago, Arin Andrews and Katie Hill hadn't transitioned yet. The two had struggled with their identities throughout childhood; Hill had struggled with bullying. Then one day they met at a trans support group, after each had begun the transitioning process, and they fell in love. Today, Andrews, 17, and Hill, 19, are content.
"I hated my breasts, I always felt like they didn't belong. Now I finally feel comfortable in my own body," Andrews explained to British tabloid The Sun about surgically removing his breasts last month. "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."

"Being transgender myself, I understand Arin better than anybody else -- how good he feels and how complete he feels," Hill added, per The Sun.
The brunette teen from Bixby did not always feel so complete. In a segment for "Inside Edition" last year, she said that as a young child she was "[b]ullied and abused. Ridiculed. Ashamed and embarrassed."
She was depressed for several years before she realized she was transgender, Tulsa World previously reported. Around her 15th birthday she told her mother and asked for help becoming Katie.
"Knowing what Katie went through for eight-plus years -- there's nothing worse than watching your child suffer," Hill's mom, Jazzlyn, told Tulsa World. "It's still my baby -- male or female, she's still my child. And I don't have to kneel at her grave."
Andrews' mom feels the same.
"Seeing Katie go through her surgery was helpful to Arin," she said, according to British tabloid The Mirror. "It was being around it and seeing her getting to transform. And being a couple at the time was I think just the cherry on the cake. Every transgender person would love to have the transformation physically because it just completes them as a person."

4 comments:

Jack Scott said...

Great article. Thanks for sharing it.

Jack Scott

MAC said...

So inspiring... thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Pretty cool. They're making the rounds of the LGBTQ news sites. I hope it educates folks! Transgendered people sure seem to have it tougher than us "regular" LGB folks.

Peace <3
Jay

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this