A struggle for acceptance: Gender identity disorder
By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Sept. 02, 2011, at 11:25 a.m.
Last modified Sept. 03, 2011, at 7:22 p.m.
http://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/02/news/bangor/transgender-in-maine-one-family%E2%80%99s-effort-to-educate-the-public-and-help-their-daughter/?utm_source=BDN+News+Updates&utm_campaign=d3461d9b95-RSS_AFTERNOONUPDATE_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email (http://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/02/news/bangor/transgender-in-maine-one-family%E2%80%99s-effort-to-educate-the-public-and-help-their-daughter/?utm_source=BDN+News+Updates&utm_campaign=d3461d9b95-RSS_AFTERNOONUPDATE_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email)
Editor's Note: A transgender child and her parents, who have sued the Orono School District, sat down recently for an interview with the Bangor Daily News. The family asked that only first names be used and the town where the girl lives and the school she attends not be identified.
When his twin sons were born, Wayne figured he had nearly half a basketball team. Like many first-time fathers, he was ready to buy deer rifles and baseball mitts for his sons before they could crawl.
"The first few years were like a utopia," Kelly said. "Everyone on the staff [at Orono's Asa Adams School] was very supportive. The school counselor spent a lot of time doing lots of research."
That atmosphere changed abruptly in the fall of 2007 when the twins were in the fifth grade. That was the year Wyatt made the transition to to Nicole. She legally changed her name, let her hair grow and began wearing girl's clothes to school.
She also began using the girls bathroom at Asa Adams with, what her parents said, was the support of school administrators and staff. Shortly thereafter, a male student and his grandfather objected to Nicole's use of the bathroom.
"You know the rules! Boys don't dress like girls and, ESPECIALLY, boys don't use the girl's bathroom!"
It all crumbles once the bathroom issue comes into focus.