Trans high school junior finds support at school
When Jayden Aguiar declared himself as male and stopped using his birth name, Jasmine, he said he was finally himself — the person he was meant to be.
“I didn’t know what transgender was until freshman year,” said Aguiar, 17, of Charlestown High School. “I told a friend I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. She asked me if I was transgender. Over time, I discovered I felt more comfortable dressing like any other male and being treated as a male.
“When I declared myself as male, I felt so much stress relieved from my shoulders,” Aguiar said. “After that, I felt so happy with myself. This is who I am.”
At Charlestown High, Aguiar, a junior, found support. Peers immediately switched from using female to male pronouns when referring to Aguiar and teachers changed his name in the grading system.
But at times, with some family members, the slights and backhanded jabs — like using the wrong pronoun or asking why he doesn’t like to wear a dress — are still frequent and frustrating.
“If they do it on purpose, I feel saddened,” Aguiar said. “You know what my identity is.”
Youth are coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender earlier and younger than in the past and the country has made strides in gay rights and LGBTQ visibilitity. But LGBTQ kids still face bullying, mental health challenges, sexual violence and housing instability more than their straight, cisgender peers, all the while trying to figure out who they are.
According to a
2018 report from the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, alarming disparities remain with LGBTQ youth experiencing higher rates of bullying, homelessness, sexual violence and substance abuse.
“We need more recognition,” Aguiar said. “In some regions of the country, it is difficult to present your identity. If people can educate themselves on what the LGBTQ community is and why we need to express ourselves, ... if more people understood, it would give people a sense that it is a legit thing. It is not made up. People think we just want to label ourselves. They dehumanize us so we don’t have a valid voice. Identity is everything. Some people can go about their everyday life and they can be who they are because what they are is what society deems normal but for others they can’t.
“I want them to know there is always going to be someone there for them.”