Ashton is Standing Up for Transgender Students

[Amelia Pond]

Ashton is Standing Up for Transgender Students
Shanelle Matthews, August 2, 2013


Meet Ashton, a 16-year-old who is an aspiring author. Ashton loves video games, fishing, martial arts and playing with his dog.... But unlike other boys, Ashton's physical education period is spent in a class full of girls, because he is transgender...

Transgender students often face challenges at school like bullying and isolation. Most transgender students experience some kind of harassment in school, more even than lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students.

[Amelia Pond]

Transgender youths get more support, thanks to laws, awareness
ELLEN HUET San Francisco Chronicle (AP), August 19, 2013, 11:37 a.m.

When Catherine Lee used to take her young child to the grocery store, other shoppers would often comment, "Oh, what a nice son you have, helping you pack the groceries"...

Her child, now 16-year-old Ashton Zaine Lee, came out as transgender to his parents about two years ago, and Lee had to learn quickly that "this is it -- this is my new reality."

Lee, 46, is part of a growing group of parents navigating... the complexities of raising a transgender child.

More transgender people are coming out as teens and as children, a sea change that doctors and therapists say could be caused by increasing awareness among parents and advancements in medical options for transgender children. And as their ranks grow, so does the push for laws like AB1266...

The new law has drawn ire from parents worried that it could be abused by students who pretend to be transgender in order to catch a peep at the opposite gender in bathrooms or open showers.

But much of the fear is based on misinformation...