Elaine Beck 0:11
Hey, everyone, I’m Elaine Beck. And I am so happy to be here today, as I always am and excited. I’ve got two wonderful guests today, two gals that have been through a lot in their life already. And they’re quite young, as you will learn. And I just think it’s wonderful that, you know, our show is called It’s Not About uUs because it’s not it’s about what God wants in our lives. And what we’re who were supposed to pleases Him, not ourselves, not everybody else. And yet people will try and get you to do things that aren’t right. As a matter of fact, I want to introduce you first. This is Chloe over here on the far right. And your last name is Cole.
Chloe Cole 0:55
Yes.
Elaine Beck 0:55
Chloe Cole. And then here in the middle we have Laura. And last name?
Laura Becker 1:02
Becker.
Elaine Beck 1:03
Becker. See, I told her I’d remember that and I forgot it. My last name is Beck. Hers is Becker. How much closer can you get? So anyways, these girls have been through a lot. Some of you may have seen them on TV already. But I’m going to let them tell their story and tell you what has happened to them. How old were you ladies? I’ll start with you, Chloe.
Chloe Cole 1:27
I was 12. When I first started going through the social part of transitioning, meaning like I changed my name, the way that I presented myself and dressed and cut my hair. And then I was 13 years old when I first started taking the physical interventions, which included Lupron as a puberty suppressants. And about like a month or so later, I was put on testosterone, which is the male sex hormone to masculinize my body, right. And at 15, I underwent a double mastectomy. And it transitioned less than a year afterward, when I realized that I wanted to be a mother that I had a maternal instincts. And that I wanted to be a woman all along, but I had some trauma that was unresolved that wasn’t really address in therapy.
Elaine Beck 2:10
Right, Well, may I ask you? What did your parents think? Or what was your home life like?
Chloe Cole 2:17
Um, I mean, I’d been a tomboy, from a pretty young age, especially more so like, as I hit puberty, and got older, I felt like I connected more with my brothers, with the boys my age, and I hit puberty pretty young. I was about like, eight or nine, when my breasts to develope. And that was pretty, that was pretty hard. Dealing with that early developments, and I was very insecure about my body for a very long time. I also had undiagnosed autism for a very long time. I was diagnosed ADHD and medicated for that, but I think it was an erroneous diagnosis, the medication. And of course, the treatment for it didn’t really work out for me. And it didn’t really address the other issues in my life. Like, especially like on the social front of things, right. And my mom and dad, they, my dad, especially kind of saw where these feelings were coming from. And he didn’t really they didn’t want me to making any decisions at the age that it was. But they told my mom and dad that there is basically no other choice between transitioning or death. They cited suicide statistics.
Elaine Beck 3:19
Ah so they put the fear in your parents to think that you were going to commit suicide if they didn’t let you do this?
Chloe Cole 3:25
Yes. They didn’t include them. They include them in my therapy at all. They had no idea what was actually going on.
Elaine Beck 3:30
That’s horrible. How are they dealing with things now, Honey?
Chloe Cole 3:34
It was definitely very tough for them, basically, watching their daughter become somebody who she wasn’t an entirely different person, almost like a monster. I was really going down this spiral. Yes. And when it came out of it, there is the sense of relief that their daughter was still there. But there was also that sense of guilt. And seeing that, like I’ve been able to use what we as a family have gone through to use that pain, and to use it for good to elevate our voices as a family. And the voices of many other children and family and men and women who have been through this has really helped them greatly.
Elaine Beck 4:12
You know, that’s the reason that I love having the two of you on my show is that for anybody else that’s out there. That is whether the parent or the child, if this will save somebody else from going through the trauma, which we talked about off stage, and stuff that you’ve been through, and what you’re going through now. You know, please people pay attention. This is so important. And these are some brave young ladies here that you know have been through a lot. So Laura, let’s hear your story, honey.
Laura Becker 4:49
So I started having a lot of mental health issues around age 11. I went through puberty very early. I was diagnosed on the autism spectrum at 11. And so I was a tomboy, I was very eccentric, I had a lot of family familial issues, there was abuse in my family towards me. And I around 15 started questioning my gender identity. And by the time I was 18, I was identifying as transgender as a transgender man. And at 19, I was prescribed a very high dose of testosterone to inject weekly, and at age 20, I had a radical double mastectomy to remove my breasts. And I realized that I had a lot more going on that I didn’t understand at the time, I feel like I could not consent to, to the procedures because I was just so mentally ill, I was very suicidal for a number of years. And I had a psychological evaluation performed to kind of try to figure out like, you know, I was so desperate to, to not, you know, kill myself, honestly, I was very suicidal. And I was diagnosed with PTSD. And I realized that I had PTSD, actually, from the surgery itself, and from the transition, and then the previous PTSD from the from the childhood abuse.
Elaine Beck 6:09
Yes. Well, you know, it’s, it’s so amazing to me, that these doctors, and, and people in the medical field are going along with this. If that if you were their a child, do you think they do that?
Laura Becker 6:28
No, I don’t think they would.
Elaine Beck 6:29
That’s right. But it’s the money in it. You know, it’s it’s feeling like they’ve done something that nobody else has done.
Laura Becker 6:39
That’s right.
Elaine Beck 6:40
You know, it’s, it’s a very sick thing for these people to do this to young people. That as young as you were. And you know, I I’m also very impressed with the fact that you are stepping out and telling other people because just like I said, to help other young people understand and know, you know, what to avoid, and I gotta tell you something. I’ve got two daughters, right. My oldest daughter was always a little miss prissy, you know, dressy ruffles and stuff. My youngest daughter was a little tomboy. And I mean, even in high school, she wanted to wear the baggy jeans and the sloppy T shirts and sweat shirts. You know, she did the plain straight hair or pulled back. She she was just like, what didn’t want anything to do with dresses and skirts? Oh, my goodness, you would have thought I was about to kill her if I said to her, you have to wear a skirt to church.
Laura Becker 7:47
That’s how it was for me.
Elaine Beck 7:49
But you know what, when you’re going through puberty and I to and my family, we go through it very young. I mean, I was, I wasn’t even nine years old when I started through it, just like you. And I was a tomboy, because I didn’t want to do dishes. I’d rather go out and play in the garden with dad. You see what I mean? Does that make us something other than what God gave us Our identity As you know? you have something to say, sweetie?
Chloe Cole 8:23
Um, I was gonna say, No, it doesn’t make us any different because our sex is determined at conception is something that stays with us. It stays with us for life. It’s not something that we can change chemically not the way that we dress, not through the way that we present. Exactly is a gift that’s bestowed upon us. And there’s, even though sex itself is binary, there’s only two you can only be male or female. There’s a million different ways that you can present yourself.
Elaine Beck 8:49
Right, right. And here’s the thing. What I was getting at about my daughter’s, you know, is when I was young, and I was a tomboy, like my youngest daughter, you know, I had four sisters. It was five girls in our family, okay. None of this was ever done then, it was never mentioned. Now, it’s talked about so much that young kids that are going through that, oh, I don’t know if I like myself today and I’m fighting with my friends tomorrow. And she likes her better today. And she she won’t have nothing to do with me. All of those massive confusing and then you throw in the hormones. Okay. And then you’re, you’re you’re going around going? Is this right for me? Uh, you know, and you wouldn’t question whether you’re a boy or girl if they weren’t talking about it so much in saying to you in school and everyplace? Well, you know, you’re with your tendencies You just might need to think about what you really are.
Laura Becker 9:48
Right? You need cosmetic surgery to become your true self.
Elaine Beck 9:51
Oh honey, I’m I am I’ve told them this offline and I’ll tell you now, I am really proud of these young ladies, that they have realize their own worth in God’s eyes, in their own eyes, in their parents eyes, in the world’s eyes. You are what God made you to be. And that’s why we have your show called, It’s Not About uUs. And that’s why I’m so honored today to have met up with him and had you here and to do His show with you. And the smile on your face. He was such a beautiful young lady, and you’re such a gorgeous young lady. Don’t ever let anybody ever question it. And just be proud of who you are. And especially with what you’re doing. Is there anything you’d like to say to maybe a young person out there, even an older young person, some of them are, are questioning themselves, in their late teens and early 20s? And early 30s? It? What would you say to them? If I’m not putting you on the spot? What would you say to them, Laura?
Laura Becker 11:01
I mean, I would say, you know, there’s a lot of different ways to have a quirky personality, you know, a lot of girls that are, are and boys, but a lot of girls especially are questioning this, they’re on the autism spectrum, they’re artistic, they’re creative, they’re nerdy. And they kind of feel like, you know, they’re not as feminine, they’re not, as you know, conventionally, you know, female typical. And I just want to say like, I’m an artist, I’m a writer, I’m a musician. And I’m just like out here, you know, being funky all the time, and I’ve been still been able to accept myself as a female. And if you accept what reality is, you’re able to make the best of it. There are pros and cons to being a female and a male. But you have to accept that to be able to have access to the benefits of your natural, you know, existenc.,
Elaine Beck 11:53
What a beautiful way to put it.
Chloe Cole 11:55
I don’t think I could have put it better.
Elaine Beck 11:58
Would you like to add anything?
Chloe Cole 11:59
I mean, the things that make you different, they don’t take away from who you are, those are gifts. And you don’t have to rely on any label or any way that you present yourself to feel like you have worth, because your worth comes from things that aren’t superficial, like the way that you look. Or, like whether, like what body parts you have. It’s from what you provide to the people around you, your family, your friends, to your community, that should be your focus.
Elaine Beck 12:30
And the thing is, is, you know, whether you’re a boy or you’re a girl, and you’re born one or the other, whether whichever it is, it’s all about what’s in your heart, what’s in your character, what’s in what’s, what is the purpose that God brought you here for you to have a major purpose now. And I’m sorry, you had to go through so much to, to present yourself. Such wonderful young ladies to be out there. But at the same time, you’ve, you’ve been given a great purpose. And I’m so proud of you that you both are like, we’re just going to do it. And I know, this can’t be easy for you. I know it can, that you know, just know that, you know, I hope all of you out there will pray for these young ladies as they tour the country in the world and, and they present reality to other people that are lost. That’s the beauty of this. This is what God does. It’s just like somebody who, you know, goes through a different kind of tragedy in their life, an accident or something, and they can share with people why not to do it. There, they have opened their lives up in their hearts up to all of you out there, please pray for them, pray that this it becomes easier all the time, and that they can find their own self worth and use her own beautiful talents and, and they can get married and and, and have family someday. You know, I just think that’s wonderful. So thank you so much, girls for being here. God bless you both.
Laura Becker 14:08
Thank you.
Chloe Cole 14:08
Thank you.
Elaine Beck 14:09
And I just know that he’s got a beautiful future for both of you. And, you know, it’s it’s such a tragedy to see these young people that are going through what you went through. And I know it’s gotta be harder for you to even see them because you know, their pain. Yeah. So let’s pray for all of them too, people. So thank you for being on our show. It’s not about us. You can see us on CPAC now, or just on YouTube or on Elainebeck.com I love you all and I’m praying for you
