6-year-old Daniel tells us why it's okay for him to be a girl

Three years ago, a British mother entered the bathroom to find her toddler son sitting in the tub with a scissors in his hand, seconds away from cutting his penis. Daniel McFayden, 3, had been attempting a sex change.

Today, Daniel is known as Danni and she has the cutest pigtails. Danni has been hailed as UK's youngest case of a child wanting to change sex.

Not without her parents

For most transgenders, finding acceptance from society is hard. However, finding acceptance and understanding from their own family is sometimes tougher. According to a MarieClaire report, at least 19 per cent of the surveyed transgenders have revealed that they suffered domestic abuse at home due to their gender conformity.

Little Danni has been luckier. Right from the beginning, starting when her mother Kerry found her in the tub with a scissors, Danni has had the support and understanding of her parents.

In an interview with The Sun, Kerry talks about the defining day, "He told me he was about to cut off his willy so he could be a girl."

"I told him he couldn't because he'd hurt himself and bleed a lot and I calmly took them from him and gave him a big hug. It was very upsetting. No mum should see their child so upset in their own skin."

Soon after that incident Kerry and her husband Craig visited specialists to find out how they could help their child and were told that Daniel has gender dysphoria.

On the advice of specialists, the couple have been letting Daniel live as Danni. And Kerry says that Danni's school has been very supportive; they have installed a unisex loo for her.

What now for Danni?

Six-year-old Danni will continue to live as a girl till she hits puberty when she will be given hormone blockers to delay sexual development so that she can decide at 16 if she wants to change her gender.

At 16, if she wants to go through with it, she will take female hormone oestrogen after which she will she will have an NHS-funded gender reassignment surgery when she turns 18.

Right to happiness

It has not been only a joy ride for the McFaydens. Says Kerry, who has four other children, " It took me a long time to come to terms with losing Daniel."

However, she adds, "But my daughter is so happy now and a completely different child. We plan to let her be."

We are inspired by Kerry and Danni's courage and hope you are too.