A safe haven in suburbia
Posted on 08 Mar 2013 at 9:15am
ANNA WAUGH | News Editorhttp://www.dallasvoice.com/safe-haven-suburbia-10141432.htmlALLEN — At first glance, Nick Hansen looks like any 16-year-old boy: sharp, witty and worried about how cool his hair looks.
But just a few months ago, Hansen was dreading coming out as transgender to his parents, finally admitting he'd been bullied at school and seeing how they'd respond.
Hansen told his parents in November that he was trans. Much to his surprise, his religious parents welcomed the news.
"The first thing they did was get me a haircut so I didn't have long hair anymore," Hansen says, laughing. The same day, his parents also bought several books on trans issues so they could better understand what it meant. "They said, 'We understand this is you and we're not going to change that.'"
His parents transferred him from school in Little Elm to Allen so he could escape the two years of bullying that began when Hansen started going by a male name and wearing more masculine clothing.
After starting school at Allen, a friend invited him to Youth First Texas Collin County and he started attending the group's weekly meetings in December.
Since then, he said the group has helped him be more comfortable with who he is now that he is finally living as male.
Youth First Texas Collin County meets Sundays from 6-7:30 p.m. at North Texas Youth Connection, 201 W. Boyd Drive #105D, Allen. For more information, go to
YouthFirstTexas.org.
