Jazz Jennings

Jazz Jennings (born October 6, 2000) is an American YouTube personality, television personality, and advocate for transgender youth who was born male, diagnosed with gender dysphoria at age four, and underwent social transition to living as female at age five, followed by puberty blockers starting at age eleven and genital reconstruction surgery at age seventeen. She first drew national attention at age six through a television interview discussing her dysphoria and family support for transition, establishing her as one of the youngest publicly documented cases of childhood gender dysphoria management via affirmation and medical intervention. Jennings starred in the TLC reality series I Am Jazz from 2015 to 2021, which chronicled her high school experiences, family dynamics, and pursuit of surgical alteration amid ongoing dysphoria. Her initial surgery in June 2018 encountered severe tissue rejection and other issues, necessitating a second procedure weeks later and a third in 2019 to address functional deficits in the neovagina constructed from penile and scrotal tissue. These interventions, pursued after years of blockers that halted natural puberty and preserved tissue for grafting, underscore the experimental nature of such treatments in adolescents, with Jennings herself reporting persistent pain and dilation requirements post-surgery.

Jazz Jennings was born on October 6, 2000, in South Florida as a biological male. Her parents, Jeanette and Greg Jennings, adopted the surname "Jennings" as a pseudonym for media appearances to protect their privacy, with their actual family name described as a longer, distinctly Jewish one.

Jennings is the youngest of four siblings in a family of Jewish ancestry, including an older sister named Ari and twin brothers Sander and Griffen. The family resided in South Florida, where Jennings was initially raised and socialized consistent with her biological sex.