Zach, 5, lives as girl over gender disorder

With pig-tails, pink glasses and a cute smile, this could be a picture of any five-year-old little girl. However, it is actually a little boy who is living as a girl after telling his mother he is trapped in the wrong body.

Theresa Avery’s son Zach is the youngest person in Britain to be diagnosed with gender identity disorder (GID).

In a person with the condition, the brain tells them they are a different sex to their body.

The Essex mother and her husband Darren, 41, took their son to a child psychologist after he became increasingly upset at being referred to as a boy and wanted to wear girls’ clothing all the time.

He was subsequently diagnosed him with gender identity disorder.

Mrs Avery said: “I would love to have my son back, but I want him to be happy. If this is the route he wants to take, if this is what makes him happy, then so be it. I would rather him have my full support.

“He likes playing with his sister’s old toys but he still loves Dr Who too and playing with his brother. And we still put some neutral clothes in his wardrobe if he ever decides he wants to wear them. We leave it up to him to decide what he wants to do. If he changes his mind and wants to be a boy again then he does, but if he doesn’t, he doesn’t.

“People need to be aware of this condition because it’s very common but even many family support workers have never heard of cases in children.”

She said Zach loved Thomas the Tank Engine but became obsessed with Dora the Explorer and started dressing in girls’ clothes.

Mrs Avery said: “He just turned round to me one day when he was three and said: ‘Mummy, I’m a girl.’ I assumed he was just going through a phase and just left it at that. But then it got serious and he would become upset if anyone referred to him as a boy.”

His school in Purfleet, Essex, has been very supportive, even converting some lavatories to gender-neutral unisex.

“We explained to the other kids at the school that Zachy’s body was that of a boy but in his brain he was a girl. We said Zach was just happier being a girl than a boy,” said Mrs Avery.

“But the other kids haven’t batted an eyelid, they’ve accepted Zach as Zach and there’s been no problems at the school with bullying.”