Interview from a transgender
Aaron's Interview
I had interviewed one of my classmates at school to see what they had to say about transgender students and what its like to be transgender. These are the questions and answers that I asked and received from him.
Questions:
1. Do you know of anybody that is transgender and if you do have they had problems that took time to fix?
2. Have any of your friends been bullied because they identify as a different gender?
3. What do you think we can do in our community as a whole to stop the bullying that is going on in school to not only transgender kids but LGBTQ kids?
4. What has it been like going through this change?
5. Have things been easy or hard for you during your change?
6. What is something you would say to incoming freshman and the kids in all grades
Answers
Problems that took time to fix:
1. There was a problem for a long time about the access for students who are trans or gender nonconforming to have access to a gender neutral bathroom. Trans students are allowed to use the restroom in the clinic bathroom during school hours, however, after school and on weekends during event there wasn't a bathroom that was available for the students to use. After talking to administration they did say that they would open a bathroom in G learning community. Although this bathroom is very far away from where most after school activities take place, the administration still tried to help the trans community get the facilities that we need.
Bullied:
1. Although I cannot recall a specific instance when bullying occurred to me or one of my friends, I have encountered many situations where people were extremely intolerant of our identities. There have been instances of sexual harassment where people have asked me in public about my genitals. Bathroom situations are extremely scary as a trans teen because of all of the things that can go wrong due to intolerance in the world. Just needing to use the bathroom can quickly turn into a dangerous situation.
What can we do to stop bullying:
1. One thing that we can do to decrease bullying is educating people. By educating students about how people in the community aren't very different from those who are not. Intolerance is a lot of the time caused by not understanding someone else's identity. Even if its not directed at someone in the LGBTQ community, the F slur is often thrown around as well as using the word "Gay" in a negative way to mean stupid or dumb. Educating students about the real world implications of using those words may be able to help in making students that are part of the community feel more accepted and safe at school.
What has it been like to go through this change:
1. It is very complicated to go through the change of transitioning during high school in front of your peers. Every student that has ever met me before I changed my name and began to transition has to adapt to my identity by calling me by the right name, using the correct pronouns and changing how they segregate things based on gender so that I can express my identity safely and comfortably.
Easy or hard for me:
1. It has been mostly a smooth transition for me coming out and living how I feel the most comfortable, however, there are always rocky patches. I was deathly afraid of coming out in the first place and I waited a long time to come out because my family and I were afraid of the backlash we would get. By not coming out my mental health deteriorated fast because I wasn't living genuinely and I was constantly being called my birth name and my old pronouns that made me extremely uncomfortable. Coming out publicly was the best decision I have ever made because it meant that I didn't have to hide anymore. Although I still get constantly misgendered, I am way better of now that I was.
Incoming freshmen and other grades:
1. Advice that I would give to incoming freshmen and anyone who feels that they are hiding is that it is never too late for a fresh start. The sooner you stop hiding the sooner you can be yourself and start to feel more comfortable. My quality of life has improved drastically since started living as the most genuine me I could be. Even if you will get backlash from expressing yourself, nothing is worse than hiding behind yourself.
I had interviewed one of my classmates at school to see what they had to say about transgender students and what its like to be transgender. These are the questions and answers that I asked and received from him.
Questions:
1. Do you know of anybody that is transgender and if you do have they had problems that took time to fix?
2. Have any of your friends been bullied because they identify as a different gender?
3. What do you think we can do in our community as a whole to stop the bullying that is going on in school to not only transgender kids but LGBTQ kids?
4. What has it been like going through this change?
5. Have things been easy or hard for you during your change?
6. What is something you would say to incoming freshman and the kids in all grades
Answers
Problems that took time to fix:
1. There was a problem for a long time about the access for students who are trans or gender nonconforming to have access to a gender neutral bathroom. Trans students are allowed to use the restroom in the clinic bathroom during school hours, however, after school and on weekends during event there wasn't a bathroom that was available for the students to use. After talking to administration they did say that they would open a bathroom in G learning community. Although this bathroom is very far away from where most after school activities take place, the administration still tried to help the trans community get the facilities that we need.
Bullied:
1. Although I cannot recall a specific instance when bullying occurred to me or one of my friends, I have encountered many situations where people were extremely intolerant of our identities. There have been instances of sexual harassment where people have asked me in public about my genitals. Bathroom situations are extremely scary as a trans teen because of all of the things that can go wrong due to intolerance in the world. Just needing to use the bathroom can quickly turn into a dangerous situation.
What can we do to stop bullying:
1. One thing that we can do to decrease bullying is educating people. By educating students about how people in the community aren't very different from those who are not. Intolerance is a lot of the time caused by not understanding someone else's identity. Even if its not directed at someone in the LGBTQ community, the F slur is often thrown around as well as using the word "Gay" in a negative way to mean stupid or dumb. Educating students about the real world implications of using those words may be able to help in making students that are part of the community feel more accepted and safe at school.
What has it been like to go through this change:
1. It is very complicated to go through the change of transitioning during high school in front of your peers. Every student that has ever met me before I changed my name and began to transition has to adapt to my identity by calling me by the right name, using the correct pronouns and changing how they segregate things based on gender so that I can express my identity safely and comfortably.
Easy or hard for me:
1. It has been mostly a smooth transition for me coming out and living how I feel the most comfortable, however, there are always rocky patches. I was deathly afraid of coming out in the first place and I waited a long time to come out because my family and I were afraid of the backlash we would get. By not coming out my mental health deteriorated fast because I wasn't living genuinely and I was constantly being called my birth name and my old pronouns that made me extremely uncomfortable. Coming out publicly was the best decision I have ever made because it meant that I didn't have to hide anymore. Although I still get constantly misgendered, I am way better of now that I was.
Incoming freshmen and other grades:
1. Advice that I would give to incoming freshmen and anyone who feels that they are hiding is that it is never too late for a fresh start. The sooner you stop hiding the sooner you can be yourself and start to feel more comfortable. My quality of life has improved drastically since started living as the most genuine me I could be. Even if you will get backlash from expressing yourself, nothing is worse than hiding behind yourself.
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