I believe that there are some who genuinely feel that they are the opposite gender. However, I had always imagined that such people were adults when they decided on that path. Now here was my teenager telling me that he wanted to be a girl. And as I began to devour everything I could on the subject I became very disturbed at just how widespread and insidious the gender issue had become and how apparently intelligent, professional people were encouraging it amongst our kids.

We went to my son's doctor to talk over the situation and get advice. He was unsympathetic to my worries. He couldn't discuss my son, he said. Anything they talked about would be confidential; he was over 16 . Basically he could do what he liked was the message I received. We left with a referral to a gender clinic.

When we finally were given an appointment at the clinic (it took several months) my son was immediately affirmed, and called by his preferred pronouns and his new name. I was told that, when asked, he had said that he had been suicidal and had thought of harming himself. I didn’t believe this; I was convinced that he had been coached. Of course, the old chestnut ‘would I rather have a live daughter than a dead son?’ was trotted out, though at that stage I didn’t know that this is a story repeatedly told to parents who question the process.