Sister Wives star Gwendlyn says trans sibling Leon has found ‘safer community’ outside the family
Gwendlyn Brown says her sibling Leon has found a “safer community” away from their family. (Gwendlyn Brown/Instagram, Leon Brown/Instagram)
Gwendlyn Brown, star of TLC reality series Sister Wives, has shared her thoughts on why her trans sibling, Leon, has distanced themself from their “conservative” family.
Answering a fan query during a reaction video to the series’ latest episode on Sunday (18 February), Gwendlyn suggested that Leon had always felt “the odd one out” and had removed themself from the family unit to be around a “safer community”.
Sister Wives follows a polygamist family, featuring Kody Brown, his current wife Robyn, three former wives Meri, Janelle, and Christine, and the 18 children they have between them. Gwendlyn is one of Christine’s children, but Leon is the only child of Meri.
“Leon has been, since childhood, kind of the odd one out in the family because they had no siblings from their mom to really get along with,” explained Gwendlyn, who is bisexual.
She added that Leon is transgender and queer in a family that predominantly practices the Mormon faith – a faith she described as she not being traditionally kind to queer people.
Leon, who uses they/them pronouns and appeared briefly in the show, although not at all during the current season, came out as “genderqueer, trans and unapologetic” in June.
“I remember the first time that I knew I wasn’t a girl. I was pretty young and unfortunately I grew up in a context that was incredibly gendered and restrictive,” Leon explained in an Instagram post at the time.
“I’m finally ready to share my favourite self with the world… if you choose to not use my correct name or pronouns, then you do not need to speak to or about me,” they continued.
Leon’s gender-identity journey has not been mentioned in the current season, with Gwendlyn suggesting they are taking time away from the family “for their emotional health”.
She said: “They’ve just been separating themselves from the situation and have been sticking to people who are [safer] for them. It’s not that they’re not fitting in, it’s that they have chosen to go to people who they can trust.
“They’ve found a safer community for themselves.”
