The sex-change sweethearts

Boy meets girl, girl meets boy: Arin Andrews, 16, left, was once a girl called Emerald while his girlfriend Katie Hill, 18, right, was born a boy called Luke.

To the casual observer, this young couple look just like any other teenagers in love. But pretty Katie Hill and her boyfriend Arin Andrews share a unique bond - they were both born as the opposite sex.

Katie, 18, spent the first 15 years of her life as Luke, son of a Marine colonel, while Arin, 16, was born a girl called Emerald who excelled at ballet dancing and won beauty contests.

Both struggled with their sexuality all through their childhoods and were teased and bullied but their lives were changed when they both began hormone therapy and later met at a trans support group in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and instantly fell in love.

Katie said: 'All I saw was a handsome guy. We're perfect for each other because we both had the same troubles growing up.

'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.'

High-school student Arin undergoes testosterone shots to give him the more masculine shape he's craved his whole life.

Meanwhile high-school graduate Katie, 18, has finished her female hormone course - oestrogen shots - which helped her to develop natural breasts with no silicone implants.

Katie, who has legally been a female since she was 15, believes she was born with naturally high levels of oestrogen and was teased as a boy throughout school for having small AA-cup breasts.

Katie added: 'Even from age three, I knew deep down I wanted to be a girl. All I wanted was to play with dolls. I hated my boy body and never felt right in it.

'I kept my feelings a total secret growing up and was petrified of what people in our tiny Christian town would say. Now Arin and I can share any problems we face together.'

Arin recalls a similar experience and says he knew he was a boy inside from his first day at school, aged just five.

Arin realised he wasn't alone after reading about Katie's transition from male to female in their local newspaper. The pair eventually met in a local trans support group and hit it off.

乍一看，这对年轻的情侣和其他热恋中的年轻人没什么不同。但美丽的凯迪-希尔和她的男朋友艾瑞-安德鲁斯的亲密关系却非常与众不同—两人都做过变性手术。

18岁的凯蒂在15岁之前一直是个男儿身，名叫卢克，父亲是一名海军上校。而16岁的艾瑞却是女儿身，名叫艾莫瑞德，擅长跳芭蕾，也曾赢得过选美比赛。

两人童年都因性别困扰，遭到别人的嘲讽和欺辱，但在他们都去接收了激素治疗进行变性后，两人的生活改变了。两人随后在俄克拉何马州塔尔萨的一家支持变性的组织结识，随后坠入爱河。

凯蒂说：“我眼前是个帅小伙。我们是对方的完美伴侣，因为我们在成长过程中都遇到过相同的困境。”

“我们的身材差不多，所以甚至会换穿对方的旧衣服，那些都是妈妈给我们买的，但我们都很讨厌穿在身上。”

“我们现在看起来就是一对男女伴侣，不会有人再注意到我们了。我们暗自感到高兴，因为这就是我们想要展现出来的模样。”

高中生艾瑞接收了雄性激素注射治疗，使他看起来身材更像一名男子，这也是他一直以来的愿望。

同时，18岁的高中毕业生凯蒂已经完成了雌激素治疗，帮助她的胸部自然发育，而不是依靠硅胶移植。

凯蒂在15岁时从法律上讲就已经变性为一名女性，她认为自己的雌激素水平自幼就很高，上学时曾因为胸部发育而遭到嘲笑。

凯蒂补充说：“从3岁开始，我在内心深处就想成为一名女孩了，我想玩洋娃娃，我讨厌自己的男性身体，一直觉得别扭。”

“在成长过程中，我从没和别人说过这个秘密，害怕遭到我们这个基督教小镇的人们的非议。现在艾瑞和我可以分享我们遇到的任何问题了。”

艾瑞回忆说，自己也有相似经历。他说，从5岁上学起自己就在心底觉得自己是个男生。

在当地报纸上读到凯蒂变性为女性的故事后，艾瑞意识到自己并不孤独。两人最终在当地一家变性支持机构相识，并坠入爱河。

Vocabulary:

petrified: 惊呆的；目瞪口呆的