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Gwendolyn Ann Smith remembers when she was three years old, she adored, coveted, and so wanted to wear Mary Jane shoes: simple, black leather shoes with little straps across the instep. Practical and cute footwear that many little girls wore. Her parents said no; these shoes weren't for Gwen. She was confused and too young to understand why not. Finally, her parents told her that those shoes were for girls. And Gwen was a boy. That memory, one of her earliest, begins the story of her long journey to become herself.