Jacob Jarvis

The story

When Patrick McGuire was given the news that the child he thought was his son was in fact a little girl, his wife gave him a stark choice.

“You can support your daughter or you can bury your son,” Lorna McGuire told her 49-year-old husband.

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How I got the story

When Lorna McGuire filled in a secondary school form for her young daughter, who was born biologically male but identifies as female, she had to select one of the two genders.

She felt unsure on what to, guilty when she ticked male, and had contacted the council and school to discuss this.

At first, I was going to write a news story. But then I spoke to Mrs McGuire, built up a rapport with her and her husband, and decided to write a feature.

The family had been spoken to by the media before, but the quote “you can support your daughter or you can bury your son”, which Mrs McGuire told me she had said to her husband, resonated with me and I felt was strong enough to go off for a feature.

So I wrote a longer piece about the family, with the parents explaining the issues they had faced in supporting their child.

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