"I shouldn't have to lose getting a physical education because of the gender I was born as,” said D.W. Wiona Trantham, a 14-year-old transgender teen.
Trantham is not afraid to state her plans to use the girls’ locker room during her P.E. class, starting in January. Trantham says she’s met with officials at South Junior High school in Boise.
"I told them I was going to be using the girls locker room this year, and I was going to be doing P.E., and one of the things that came up in that meeting with me and my dad and the principal and the vice principal was you know, they knew this was coming up, and they knew there was going to be some controversy coming up,” said Trantham.
Trantham was born male, but tells me she was born trapped in the wrong body. She says she's a girl.
Under a doctor’s care, she's taken puberty blockers and is now on estrogen.
"I indentify as a female, I am a female, said Trantham.
In 2014, Trantham opted out of gym class, concerned about the locker room.
"I've always had my doctor excuse me from P.E. because I knew it was going to be quite a bit of controversy, and frankly I was quite scared,” said Trantham.
The Boise School District would not speak specifically to Trantham’s situation, but they did send our newsroom this statement:
“The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has instructed schools nationwide that sex discrimination prohibitions in federal law include protections for gender identity. As such, under federal civil rights law, the District is required to provide access to public facilities consistent with the student’s gender identity.
Gender identity is not a fluid concept. A student may not choose to identify as a male one day and a female the next. School districts elsewhere that have implemented these policies require that the gender identification be both persistent and consistent over time.” – Boise School District
