On June 28, 2022, Meri and Kody’s only child, Leon Brown, shared something pretty personal on Instagram. They actually came out as transgender.
In the lengthy post, they said that from now on, people should only refer to them with they/them pronouns. But that’s not all. They also announced that they had changed their name to Leon or Leo — they like both versions equally.
The whole Instagram post was pretty emotional. Leon started it by saying that someone recently told them that they didn’t have to have everything figured out before they shared themselves with the world. And that advice was why they decided that it was time to finally come out – even though they didn’t have everything figured out just yet.
They posted two photos of themselves in front of a big door – in one of the photos, they have a huge smile on. They seem really happy, which definitely comes across from what they wrote.
Leon Brown Knew Early On They Didn’t Identify As a Girl
In the caption, Leon explained that they’ve always felt this way. They were pretty young when they first realized they weren’t a girl. But since they were raised in a very gendered and restrictive society, they were still socialized as a girl and, later, a woman.
Despite that, they were now finally ready to come out and be their true self. They announced that they were genderqueer, trans, and unapologetic about it all.
From the post, it seems like this coming out has been a long time coming. They said that being queer and trans were some of their favorite parts of themselves. They were clearly happy to finally be able to share it with the world.
At the same time, Leon did admit that there were still many things that they needed to learn to love about themself. This coming out process has apparently been helping them gain more confidence – but they still feel like there’s more they need to learn.
They’re still getting to know themselves, and they will continue sharing themselves and evolving to be the person they know they are.
This wasn’t the first time Leon had to come out to people. You might remember that back in 2017, they came out as gay. This was during season 11 of Sister Wives.
Was Meri Supportive of Leon’s Transition?
Back then, Meri struggled with Leon’s coming out. She did say that she was happy that her child knew who they were. Still, it clearly wasn’t easy for her.
But it seems like she’s taking it much better this time around. We obviously don’t know when Meri found out about Leon’s gender identity. It might’ve taken her a while to get used to it, but she does seem super supportive now. She actually shared Leon’s coming out post to her Instagram stories and said that they were her sunshine.
Meri and Leon do seem to have a pretty good relationship. Just recently, during Mother’s Day, Meri also gushed about them. She said that she loved this kid that made her a mom – it was actually pretty sweet.
As for Leon and their father Kody, the U.S. Sun reported that they are estranged and that Kody does not support Leon’s transition. A source told the outlet that Meri picked her child over Kody: “Leon is her only child, and she wasn’t going to disown them. She will pick Leon over Kody every day.”
Meri wasn’t the only person showing support to Leon. There were many others that have commented under their coming out post – including Audrey Kriss, who was Leon’s fiancée at the time (they are now married).
Audrey commented under Leon’s post to say that they loved them and were proud of them. They also shared the post to their stories. And just recently, Audrey also posted a photo of the two, wishing everyone happy Pride. Leon actually published their coming out post during Pride month, which was in June. They probably felt that the timing was right because of that.
Leon Continues to Inspire Others to Stay True to Themselves
But there was another reason why they decided to come out now. They said that they wanted to share this part of themselves to let people in – but also to set some clear boundaries.
They said that everyone should respect their new name and pronouns. If someone chooses not to use their correct name and pronouns, they should not speak to or about them at all.
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They ended the whole post by asking once again for people to only use they/them pronouns and either Leon or Leo as their name. They do not want to engage with people who don’t respect who they are. Since then, Leon has been sharing their journey on Instagram and inspiring others to stay unapologetically true to themselves.
Leon and Audrey got married on October 29, 2022.
