Hunter Schafer grew up surrounded by religion — not surprising, given that her father, Mac Schafer, is a Presbyterian clergyman. Despite being assigned male at birth, her love of all things girly presented itself very early on. “I’ve always had this persistent need for femininity and expressing that — like ever since I was a teeny, tiny toddler,” Schafer told WUNC. That was something that didn’t abate as she grew older; interviewed by MyFox8, Schafer recalled dressing up in a frilly pink princess dress at preschool. When she came out to her parents as gay in middle school, neither her mother nor father was particularly surprised. They accepted the news, offering their full support.
It wasn’t until the onset of puberty, when peach fuzz began growing on her upper lip, that she became increasingly concerned about her gender identity. “The anxiety level in Hunter was so apparent that I know that we could not continue kind of turning an eye or not listening,” Schafer’s mother, Katy, explained. “I felt like we were reaching a crisis point … Hunter was just really struggling inside, and the anxiety was coming out.”
Her parents sought professional help, which led to a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. That diagnosis marked the beginning of a period of drastic change, for both Schafer and her parents. “And so it was in seventh grade that I came to terms with the idea that maybe I wasn’t a boy,” she told Raleigh Magazine.
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