Trans formational

Parents surprise trans son with matching trans flag tattoos

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Two parents in Australia really put the “flag” in PFLAG, surprising their transgender son, Drew, with matching trans flag tattoos.

“My parents got trans flags tattoos to represent their trans son (i.e. me!),” Drew tweeted on May 3, along with a photo of his parents’ new ink, which they had messaged to him while he was on vacation.

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In a follow-up tweet, Drew revealed that the tattoos show how far his folks have come. “You wouldn’t believe how much we’ve grown as a family,” he told followers. “When I started to come out, things were so horrible, we didn’t know how to communicate. I’m as proud of them as they are of me.”

Drew, who lives in the Australian city of Adelaide, tells Gay Star News that he came when he was 15, and that his relationship with his parents afterward was “tricky,” especially because he’s also hard of hearing and wears two hearing aids. “There was definitely a lot of fear and questioning that went into the whole process,” he says. “The idea of being even more different compared to the general abled and cisgender majority we have in our society was scary, for both myself and my parents.”

“Whilst I was battling with this massive, life-changing idea that I wasn’t cisgender, my parents were also mourning their expectations and past memories of who I was, knowing that if this wasn’t a phase, that I may be ostracized further from the general population.”

Now, though, his parents see how happy Drew as his true self, and he’s even happier now as a result of the tattoos. “Crying from happiness never felt so good,” he says.

Related: Trans teen Theodore Zane is educating the world one Instagram at a time

Drew advises the parents of other trans and gender diverse children that if they show their kid love and support, “they will bloom into an incredible, inspirational person.”

“It’s a terrifying world out there, and we are all stronger together than we are apart,” he adds. “Being trans is not a bad thing, it’s different, but our differences should be celebrated, for we are the same person you have always known, but we are growing to be the best versions of ourselves.”

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