Adym White is a ninth grade student from West Point, Kentucky. He enjoys playing basketball with friends as well as hanging out and being around others. He hopes to be a welder after finishing high school.
Adym is also transgender. This isn’t something that should really matter when it comes to school. Schools are about education, not about making people feel like an outcast.
However, that was not the case for Adym. His whole school year has been about his gender.
On November 22nd, 2019, Adym decided to hold a silent protest at the school for students of the LGBTQ+ community. Members of the community and allies wore certain colors and painted their faces with the LGBTQ+ flags.
This protest took place after Adym was not allowed to use the men’s bathroom, despite identifying as male. This is not the first incident due to Adym’s gender identity that has happened to him this year.
“Honestly, I haven’t been treated with the respect I deserve at all. Within the first week of [school] I was outed for being trans,” Adym said. “I was getting bullied; I got threatened; and I still get picked on for it.”
The mistreatment has been occurring throughout this whole year. Adym should have been able to come out when he decided to, “not when others decided.” When he went to tell his principal about being outed, the offending student was not punished in any way. In school, he is misgendered as a female, even though he publicly identifies as male.
“I haven’t been treated with the respect I deserve at all. Within the first week of [school] I was outed for being trans.”
This negative situation needs to be changed, and part of that change can occur by spreading more information on the LGBTQ+ community. At Adym’s school there is not enough education about the experience of LGBTQ+ individuals which could help other students better understand Adym’s experiences.
This is not only affecting Adym’s social life, but also his school life. “I definitely don’t get the same respect as other students. I often get picked on, and that’s why I don’t really like going to school and I’m truant,” Adym said.
School is supposed to be a safe place. Obviously that is not the case for Adym, and he is not able to get the education he deserves due to the intense bullying he experiences because of his gender identity. “It doesn’t stop. I’ve told them countless times about [the harassment] and the issue doesn’t get fixed,” Adym said. “It’s a violation against my rights, honestly. I’m moving schools hopefully next year.”
Adym was recently sent to an alternative school for nine weeks after he came to school wearing a beanie, even though he took it off after being asked. The school’s answer to resolving the bathroom situation was to discipline Adym but not the multiple people at the school that have bullied him. He was also suspended for disturbing the school day with the protest, and now students can only use the bathrooms during certain parts of the day.
We need schools to have a better understanding and way of handling situations like this. Students should not experience harassment and bullying for their gender or sexuality. Students should not be persistently misgendered and banned from using facilities that match their gender identity. Students should not have to move schools to get away from a school system that is not protecting their rights.
Adym is so much more than his gender. He has career goals and hobbies, interests and friendships. But for Adym and thousands of students like him, their gender identity continues to be the focal point of their educational experience.
Qhovia Phillips is a sophomore at Elizabethtown High School.
The Student Voice Forum is a publication of the Kentucky Student Voice Team. The opinions expressed on the Forum represent the individual students to whom they are attributed. They do not reflect the official position or opinion of the Kentucky Student Voice Team. Read about our policies.
The Student Voice Forum and the Student Voice Team were part of the Prichard Commitee for Academic Excellence when this piece was published.
