My Dad wants to become my Mum!

My name is Michael Coote and I love my father very much. This post is going to surprise many people and I ask you to read it through to the end.

Dad is 89 years old and is transitioning from being a man to being a woman. He has shared with me that, from the age of 5, he has felt that he was born in the wrong body. He was a ships captain and always presented himself as a "man's man"...and now this!

This is not a "fad" for him, nor does he express any homosexual tendencies - he "simply" states (there is no simple about it!) that he believes that he should be a woman and not a man. He is undergoing hormonal treatment and is under medical care and supervision here in the UK.

I am writing this post with the full awareness and permission of my Dad. He is not ashamed of who he is and who he is becoming. I am not "going behind his back" in any way. It's important for me to state this clearly.

So, why am I writing it?

* If there are those who are struggling with their own sexuality and gender, I really do want to be a voice of positive expression.

* If there are those who are vehemently against this - for whatever reason - I do want to be a voice of reasonableness and love.

I am a man who has a deeply personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. I know what the word of God declares about men and women and I stand on the authenticity of the Word of God. I have shared my faith with my dad and he has heard the truth of what I believe scripture teaches (I was a full-time ordained Baptist Pastor for many years with a degree in Theology and a Seminary education as well.)

You see, I love my dad. And this is where the challenge exists! Dad, for many years in his life, was a hard and uncompromising father. My mother knew about Dad and, whilst she did not enjoy what had become of her marriage, she loved her husband / my Dad and was determined to stand by him as much as she could.

My mother passed away just over two years ago...and I miss her every day of my life.

And this is where my challenge with this situation becomes more difficult.

As Dad has softened and taken on more and more of his female personality, so he has softened and become much more warm and feminine in his manner of response...far more loving and gentle!

But, he is not my mother, and there is a part of me that does not want him to attempt to mother me! He is my father, my earthly Dad, and his situation leaves me beeling betwixt and between!

I am not asking you to agree or disagree with me or with what my Dad feels that he "just has" to do. This is complex and I know that it has helped me to become far less judgemental and far more loving to those who do not "fit" into any box that the world deems appropriate.

As I end this post, I want to repeat something that I stated a while back:

* If there are those who are struggling with their own sexuality and gender, I really do want to be a voice of positive expression.

* If there are those who are vehemently against this - for whatever reason - I do want to be a voice of reasonableness and love.

I love my heavenly father and I love my earthly Dad. And I really want to be used as a voice of reason and clarity in the midst of a genuinely complex and emotional situation.