Transgender Series Focused on Evanston Teen's Parent Debuts Monday

“Becoming Us,” a docu-series featuring an Evanston teen and his family through transgender struggles, premieres Monday night at 8 p.m. central time on ABC Family.

The 10-episode series from Ryan Seacrest Productions features Ben Lehwald, a 17-year-old Evanston boy and his family as they go through the changes involved with his father, Charlie transitioning into a woman, Carly. The series, which will conclude this summer, will also focus on Ben’s then-girlfriend Danielle Molnar, of Libertyville, whose parent is undergoing a similar transition.

The first episode puts “awkward situations in the forefront,” according to the Chicago Tribune. “The teenagers take their parents bra shopping and Lehwald’s stepdaughter Sutton Crawford wonders what role Lehwald will have in her upcoming wedding now that Lehwald identifies as a woman.”

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Carly Lehwald recently told the Tribune she knew from an early age “there was something different about me.”

She experimented with cross-dressing over the years and when a friend completed her transition and she began to research, Carly “discovered” herself.

The show was “Ben’s idea … He had been talking to his mom about wanting to find a platform to tell a story and to help other kids or parents who are going through transition as well,” Carly said.

Ben, in April, discussed his struggles with the matter.

“It’s confusing for me because I want to say, ‘Dad,’ but I don’t want to say, ‘Dad,’ because I want to respect her and not hurt her feelings,” said Lehwald, an Evanston Township High School student. “We just came to the conclusion to call her ‘Carly.’”

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The show was filmed between October and February with exterior shots of the lakefront in Evanston and downtown Chicago.

The show’s debut comes during a hot week for transgender issues. Caitlyn Jenner’s Vanity Fair issue will be released and the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black” starring transgender actress Laverne Cox will begin its third season.

more via the Chicago Tribune

Photo: ABC Family/Getty Images/Jean Whiteside