This trans dancer has an important message of acceptance for parents of LGBT children
A transgender dancer who was rejected by his family after coming out has an important message for parents of LGBT-identifying children.
Jelanii Kabita began to face homophobia and transphobia from his family when he was in high school and was caught kidding a girl in a bathroom (before his transition).
Talking to Mic, Kabita explained that after he was caught the therapist at his school gave him three days to tell his mother that he had kissed the girl.
I was either going to be dead,” the dancer explained. “I didn’t know what to do so I didn’t tell my mom.”
However, after the time limit was up he came home and his mum was already home.
“I knew that my life was pretty much over from that point. I walked in the house and my mom was yelling at me calling me all types of homophobic names like ‘dyke’.”
Kabita was understandably distraught over his mother’s reaction and so he attempted to make her happy by dating men again.
I started trying to date boys again just to make everyone kind of calm down, but it didn’t work cause it just isn’t who I am,” he explained.
He explained that he came to realise his trans identity when he was devastated over growing breasts and getting his first period.
For me, it was real for me that I was in a body that I didn’t really want,” he explained.
Kabita began to explore his identity through dance, which he says is like a “drag part” of himself that allows him to “emulate” both female and male “vibrations”.
He has since come out as transgender two years now and his life has been nothing but “upside down” just like his dancing, Kabita says.
Despite having nothing short of a difficult journey to the present, the inspirational dancer has learnt some lessons from his experiences and has an especially important message for parents of LGBT children.
He said: “My message for the families with kids who are identifying in the LGBTQI community, the last thing you want to do is throw them out.
“It just takes a choice to want to learn who your kid is and to accept the fact that you can’t control every single thing that happens in your child’s life, but you can guide them. If you can’t learn at home to love how are we going to go in the world and love other people?”
