R. Kelly’s transgender child ‘comes out’ and the community reacts

Around two weeks ago, R. Kelly’s son, Jay (who was born Jaya, and biologically female) announced via social web that he is transgender. The young teen, reportedly either 13 or 14 years old, says he wants to be male and since then, has openly answered questions about sexual orientation and the nuances of being transgender.

The initial announcement came via an interview on the teen’s Ask.fm account, in which the child said he informed his mother via text, according to various news outlets.

The entire conversation, in which Jay says he identified as a boy at age “six or seven” was part of a question-and-answer session on the popular website. The teen’s mother, Andrea Kelly, then reportedly told TMZ that her child’s famous soul singer father does not accept the teen’s choice. That idea – and any real conversation on the topic – was totally and deftly sidestepped by Kelly in an interview that ran last week after the Summerjam concert hosted by WGCI-107.5 FM.

The longer video is on the above hyperlink, but TMZ cut it down to size below (and If you don’t want to watch it, just skip down below the video to read the transcription.)

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R. Kelly — Refuses To Accept His Daughter Is Now His Son

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SubscribeRegarding his son, Kells told WGCI the following:

“You don’t want to really open it up by saying my daughter is becoming my son. Don’t even give the blogs that kind of credit. Real talk. As far as that’s concerned always believe what you see, with your own eyes that is…. I’ve heard a lot of things about a lot of things, but it was never true… It’s not about me no more. It’s about three lovely, lovely kids. And then even when you see it with your own eyes, it’s a back story. .. I don’t address dumb [ish.]”

The community has responded – not unsurprisingly – with some derision. Some people immediately joked by referencing one of the singer’s mega hits from his hip hop opera, saying that Kelly’s son is the one “Trapped in the Closet.” And on the teen’s ask.fm account, he has responded to all manner of questions about being transgender including this gem: “Are you gay because you have girl parts and you like girls…”

The teen has responded with class. This afternoon, someone pinged him with this comment:

To which he responded: