Okla. Transgender Teen Couple Open Up About Love Story
Arin Andrews and Katie Hill look like your typical teenage couple from Tulsa, Okla. - but there is something incredibly unique about them; they are both transgender people and went through their transition process while dating.
For the first 15 years of her life, Hill, born Luke, lived as a male, the British newspaper the Daily Mail reported in 2012. Her boyfriend, Andrews, 17, was born as a female named Emerald, who was a ballerina and excelled in beauty contests. Both teens struggled with their sexuality while growing up, however, and were often bullied.
Nevertheless, they underwent hormone therapy and later met in a transgender support group and fell in love.
"All I saw was a handsome guy. We're perfect for each other because we both had the same troubles growing up," Hill told the publication a year ago. "We're both size five, so we even swap our old clothes our mum's bought us but we hated. We look so convincing as a boy and a girl, nobody even notices now. We secretly feel so good about it because it's the way we've always wanted to be seen."
Andrews, a high school student, received testosterone shots, which gave him a masculine shape while Hill, 19, had completed her estrogen shots.
"I hated my breasts, I always felt like they didn't belong. Now I finally feel comfortable in my own body," Andrews told the U.K. tabloid paper the Sun on Monday. "Now when I'm out in a public pool or lifting weights, no one raises an eyebrow."
Hill added that she understands her boyfriend "better than anyone else" because she is also transgender.
"Even from age three, I knew deep down I wanted to be a girl," Hill told the Daily Mail. "All I wanted was to play with dolls. I hated my boy body and never felt right in it."
Andrews echoed his girlfriend's sentiments and says he knew he was a boy inside since the first day of school when he was five years old.
"The teachers separated the girls and boys into separate lines for a game," he said. 'I didn't understand why they asked me to stand with the girls. Girly things didn't interest me, but I was worried what people would think if I said I wanted to be a boy, so I kept it secret."
Though the couple's parents support the teens and their transition, they were still the victims of bullying and were depressed. In a 2012 interview with "Inside Edition," Hill said she was "Abused. Ridiculed. Ashamed and embarrassed."
"My parents were scared stiff and put me through 15 therapists to try and cure my depression," she told the Daily Mail. "None helped because nobody suggested I was trans, and I didn't know what it was."
As the Sun reports, its been over a year since the couple started their transition process.
"I can wear a tank top, which I couldn't before, and I can go swimming shirtless. I can just be a regular guy," Andrew said. "And I'm so lucky to have my family and Katie to rely on."
For Hill, Andrews is "just my Arin. He's always looked manly to me. But now that he's had the surgery he's much more confident and comfortable with himself."