wasn't happy with myself," June said. "It was almost like I was punishing myself."

June, then Junior, and her twin brother, James, were close growing up, playing sports together and often hanging out with friends. (James Reid Vickers/Facebook)

Weeks after confiding in her grandmother, June told her psychiatrist she wanted to be a woman.

"I told the psychiatrist originally because I was suffocating," she said.

June asked him to tell her family about her being transgender.

"I felt like they wouldn't come to accept me as their daughter. …There was a genuine fear that my parents would reject me."

June had already been accepted at the University of New Brunswick in science on a full scholarship. No matter the outcome of telling her parents, she would be free.

But she could not bring herself tobreak the news to her parents herself.

"I felt so much shame, so much conflict."

The psychiatrist acted quickly, calling June's mother while June was still in his office.

June, who is now taking hormones, says it was difficult feeling trapped in a body she didn't feel was hers. (June Vickers/CBC)

June didn't know what would happen next.

"But I knew it couldn't be worse than I already felt," she said

When the two talked, it was an emotional moment for both teenager and her mother, Patricia, who cried.

June's gender identity challenged the religious beliefs at the core of family. Later that day, the parents and twins had a long discussion about what was happening in their family.

James Vickers used to be a long-haired, thin metal head, but has transformed himself into a disciplined