School Anxiety?

[TrojanMan]

I've been having a lot of anxiety about school starting up this fall. Particularly how I'll be treated. This is a new school where nobody knows me and I have my name legally changed to my male name. I decider that for my PE credit I will do JROTC, but the problem is that there are male and female uniforms. Now, I know I might be over worried about this, but has anyone been in ROTC before? How are the uniforms issued? I'm worried that they'll have a roll sheet with everyone's names and gender on it and they'll give me a female one.

[Bimmer Guy]

Did you ever talk to the Principal/school district about bathrooms and stuff?  Or are you just entering the school stealth, hoping they won't notice your gender marker is female?

[invisiblemonsters]

honestly the best way to go about this is to talk to the guidance counselor or the principle/dean. someone who can help you with this kind of situation. i am stealth in my school but my name isn't changed yet. my guidance counselor sends out notifications to remind my teachers to call me by my preferred name and not my birth name. i only mention this because it is nice having someone who knows (although you're stealth) who can help you through situations. however just googling "rotc and transgender" i found a lot of transphobic articles about transgender people in ROTC. i also found a ->-bleeped-<- thread about a transgender cadet. apparently he wasn't allowed to wear the males uniform (this was mentioned twice, one by a friend of a transgender cadet and another by one who quit because they couldn't wear the male uniform). either way i hope it works out for you.

[Ayden]

Two of my younger brothers are in jrotc. It's not a very trans friendly place. From my understanding you would have to wear the girls uniform unless you have made prior arrangements with the school. One of my brothers friends didnt want to wear the girls uniform and was forced to until they decided to just drop ROTC since it wasn't worth it to them.

[Ayden]

Another option you can look into is correspondence PE. You can do it at any school, and all you have to do to talk to the school or the school district. Given your situation, I doubt you would have a hard time. They offered the classes when I was in school ten years ago and my brother did a correspondence PE class when he had a broken leg and his physical therapy counted. 

[Alexthecat]

Now a days a marching band class counts as PE credit. Unfortunately it didn't when I was in school 06-10 so I did summer PE instead at a cost.

[TrojanMan]

But If I'm stealth and pass 100% would they just give me a male one or would they look up my gender?

[AdamMLP]

I'd imagine it would depend on whether they look at the paperwork or even whether they assume it's a misprint. Is it really worth risking outing yourself to an entire class when you could tell one or two people in confidence?

[FindingJames]

I've been having a lot of anxiety about school starting up this fall. Particularly how I'll be treated. This is a new school where nobody knows me and I have my name legally changed to my male name. I decider that for my PE credit I will do JROTC, but the problem is that there are male and female uniforms. Now, I know I might be over worried about this, but has anyone been in ROTC before? How are the uniforms issued? I'm worried that they'll have a roll sheet with everyone's names and gender on it and they'll give me a female one.

I think you'll be treated just fine as long as you remain stealth. I think the problem most people have is that they don't have their name legally changed and then the other students piece things together when somebody like a teacher screws up. But you said your name is legally changed so there really isn't any room for error so it should be quite easy to remain stealth.

As far as JROTC goes, I can't help you there. We don't have that at my school or anywhere in my area really. Like you said, they might have a list with name and sex marker in which case you would be screwed. Or they might just assume your gender and give you the corresponding uniform. Or they might tell the boys to line up on one side and the girls on the other in which case it wouldn't be a problem. However, I would consider talking to the guidance counsellor or principal about it. That way you don't show up and go "oh crap" if they do have your sex marker listed or something like that. You could tell the guidance counsellor/principal that you identify as male and would like a male uniform. Also if you tell them you would like to keep it confidential, they legally can't tell anyone without your permission so you don't have to worry about teacher or other students finding out.

[Ayden]

But If I'm stealth and pass 100% would they just give me a male one or would they look up my gender?

If they see your marker, it might make your life uncomfortable. Remember, ROTC isn't just marching up and down a field. What if you have to take a trip with the class? What if you get injured? I know it sucks but the school already knows (I'm assuming your gender marker hasn't changed yet) so is it really worth it to potentially get outed? Why not just have your parent or guardian call the school and ask? Or you can call them. You don't have to give a name I ask about school policy. Rather than stress now, I would say ask first and don't get yourself worked up too much.