Fifteen years ago, Erica Maison gave birth to a son, whom she named Corey. Today, Erica Maison no longer has a son named Corey. Before you start hanging crepe for her, you should know that Maison now has a daughter named Corey. In fact, it’s the same Corey — the one who used to be her son.
At the risk of greater confusion, I hasten to add that there is no Erica Maison either. There is an Eric Maison (née Erica), who is now the proud father of former son, now-daughter Corey.
In an interview with Australia’s “60 Minutes,” the parent and child from Detroit said they both struggled independently with their gender identity for years. According to Fox News, Corey was the first to admit his “trans-ness,” telling his parents four years ago that he viewed himself as a female. Last year, Erica acknowledged that she, too, had been grappling her own gender confusion. It was a difficult time, she recalls:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
The first feeling [upon sharing her revelation] was relief, the second was terror. Fear for what my future would hold, fear for how my family and children would, fear for what the rest of my life was going to look like.
Her fears about acceptance were unwarranted as it turns out. Her husband, Les Brown, has remained by her side. He explained to “60 Minutes”:
I fell in love with the person. She was beautiful as a woman, but equally beautiful on the inside.
There are four other children in the family, one of them ostensibly a boy, the others ostensibly girls.
Whether the other offspring will stay true to their currently biologically determined sexes remains to be seen. Ditto for Corey, Eric, and Tom. Any one of them at any time might begin self-identifying as a member of the opposite sex. Or of a different sex. (Remember, according to trans doctrine, there are dozens of them.) Who knows? One of them could switch species.
What a happy unpredictable world we are living in!
