A pair of identical twins are to make history now that one of them is undergoing gender reassignment. This will challenge the psychologists and sociologists, since  it suggests that sharing the same DNA doesn’t mean  sharing the same identity, but the same or similar environment elicits two quite different results. It also challenges simplistic explanations of consumer brainwashing, for Boston twins Wyatt and Jonah seemed identical in every way, but from the word go Jonas displayed typical male behaviours and choices of toys, whilst Wyatt was interested in “girls’ stuff”, including clothes. Wyatt’s mother compromised by making  him a ‘Prince’s Suit ‘ to dress in at home. Both parents were dismayed when Wyatt emerged one day wearing a sequined shirt and his Mum’s heels. Jonah broke the deadlock, apparently, by telling them, “You might as well face it; you have a son and a daughter.”

After some soul searching Kelly and Wayne, the twins’ parents, went to the Childrens’ Hospital Gender Management Services Clinic in Boston and, to cut a long story short, Wyatt is now 14-year-old Nichole and is undergoing hormone therapy and puberty delay until full gender affirmation surgery can take place when she reaches 18.

To read the full and inspiring story from The Boston Globe, go here