Capital Pride chooses 10-year-old Charlie Lowthian-Rickert to help lead parade

From a very young age 10-year-old Charlie Lowthian-Rickert faced exclusion because of who she is, but at the Capital Pride parade this weekend she'll be front and centre, and she'll be celebrated.

A few weeks ago the Stittsville girl answered a phone call from parade organizers asking if she'd be willing to be one of thisyear's threegrand marshals.

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"I felt like I was an inch away from jumping off the walls and probably destroying my TV," Charlie told CBC's Ottawa Morning.

"I'm just going to be thinking about all the people that this parade is helping, all the people that I'm helping."

Charlie was born a boy, but began identifying as a girl by age three.Despite her youth, she's no stranger to transgenderactivism and the publicity it brings.

In May Charlie held her own next to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould on Parliament Hill as she introduced the government's transgender rights bill.

Still faces bullying

Charlie said she hopes talking openly about her journey will help shift people's mindsets about the trans community.

"More people are speaking up for transgender rights and the more people who speak up, the more people who might be able to think, 'Maybe I'll listen to them.' Because I know some people who don't want to listen," she said. "I seriously don't know why. I still don't. Because it doesn't matter what's in my underwear or what's on my body. It matters what's in my heart, my mind, and my soul."

Maybe the world will change by the time she needs it to.- AnneLowthian

Despite her optimism, Charlie said being openly transgender can attractpublic backlash, often in the form of hurtful online comments.

"I've met some people who don't accept me for who I am, but it's probably because they don't understand. They don't know, and they don't know how to react. So I'd like to teach them."

Parental support

Her mother, Anne Lowthian, said the early days of Charlie's transition weren't easy.

"My partner and I struggled at first because we didn't understand the difference between gender and sexuality. Most people don't. We socialized Charlie as a boy according to her bits and pieces like everybody else does," she said

And even though she now beams with pride listening to Charlie,Lowthian said the world can still be a scary place for LGBT families. The fear Charlie will be assaultedis never far from mind, she said.

"As parents, we're terrified for Charlie's future. We're really concerned. So when Charlie said she wanted to get active and start dealing with some of her fears by speaking out, we said sure thing ... Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, we're going to take you. No problem. Because it's therapeutic for us, too, to speak out and to try and educate," Lowthian said.

"Maybe the world will change by the time she needs it to."