High school is the time to find out where your future is and who you are as a person. For some people, that might be as simple as enrolling in the culinary arts or veterinary science classes, but for others, it’s hopping gender fences and crossing sexual orientation lines.

I was as young as 11 years old when I discovered I identified as transgender male and wanted to use he/him as my pronouns, I didn’t come out until June of 2021 and even now it’s still hard for me to tell new people I meet. I think that the hardest part of coming out would be coming out to family and friends. My advice would be that if they don’t accept you, they aren’t worth the trouble of worrying about.

A big part of being accepted, especially for transgenders, is transitioning. Transitioning is different for everyone. Most of the time, when people transition, they will change their name from their birth name to a new name. A dead name is a birth name someone no longer identifies with. Deadnaming someone, or even just asking what it is, can be extremely hurtful. A change of pronouns is also common. While it can be difficult to adjust, it’s important to respect people’s changes in name and pronouns.

For those on the path to transition, try talking to your counselor and teachers about your deadname and new pronouns. The majority of the staff at GHS will be more than happy to respect your name and identity. It might be a continuous process, but it’s important to keep correcting people on your name and/or pronouns. It will take a while, but eventually everyone will know you by your new name and pronouns, not by your deadname and birth gender.

In high school things can be rough, especially as someone in a minority, there will be a lot of kids, and sometimes even teachers, that will discriminate against you for who you are. Discriminatory events against the LGBTQ+ community occur often, in both our schools and society, but aren’t always addressed in a public way. 

Be prepared for disrespectful comments. Some comments I’ve had said to me before are, “What’s your real name?”, “You’re not trans. You’re just in a phase”, “ You’re just confused”, “Why did you choose to be transgender?”, and so many more. I suppose what I’m trying to say is there will always be people who won’t respect you, but no matter what they say or do shouldn’t stop you from being who you truly are. 

In an attempt to cut out some of the manifesting homophobia, Mrs. Gum, as an LGBTQ teacher, has created and begun to sponsor the Rainbow Alliance. Which will have its next meeting on October 4th. The club is entirely inclusive to people of all sexual orientations and gender identifications. If you’re ever looking for other LGBTQ+ members to relate to, then you should definitely join the Rainbow Alliance.