TRANSGENDER STUDENTS SAY SUPPORT HAS BEEN LACKING IN SCHOOLS WITHOUT POLICY

music is garage indie punk, and I don’t know what that means,” Daniel said.

He started transitioning in eighth grade and came out during his freshman year.

By his sophomore year, Daniel was on testosterone. He graduated this year, but didn’t make a lot of friends during his time in CCSD’S high schools.

“A policy like the one being proposed would have helped me a lot through my transition,” he said. “I had to transfer two times during high school just to make sure I was safe or respected.”

Kristina Hernandez, 15

Kristina Hernandez fiddled with the beaded bracelet on her wrist that had several dragonfly charms dangling from it.

“They’re sort of my thing,” she said. “My father passed away about a year ago, and I started seeing dragonflies a lot, which actually — in spiritual healing stuff — symbolize change. I noticed whenever I would feel his energy around me, I would always end up seeing dragonflies.”

Kristina hadn’t seen her father for about seven years before his death.

Her mother, Laura, raised her in a heavily Hispanic area of Las Vegas where “thousands” of CDS from her grandmother’s produc- tion company fill their home. She collects vinyl from the ’60s and ’70s, adores Janis Joplin, George Harrison and The Beatles, and loathes modern music.

Kristina knew she was a girl since before she could remember. It was just a matter of convincing her mother to accept it. Then family and friends. Then her school and community.

She transitioned in sixth grade at a school where there wasn’t a lot of support. Kristina said her principal blamed that lack of support on not having a policy to follow.

“I’ve spent the past few years just trying to help other kids out,” she said. “I made a promise to myself that I was never going to let another kid go through what I went through.”

After a cyberbullying experience during her freshman year of high school, Kristina decided to fulfill her education requirements through homeschooling.

“There’s just so much more to me that isn’t based around gender,” she said.

Cameron Johnson, 14

Cameron Johnson and her mom, Sandy, curled up on opposite ends of the couch with their 13-year-old dog Diamond close by. The Johnson family moved to Boulder City because Sandy is a pastor for the local United Meth- odist Church.

Cameron was accepted to Las Vegas Academy for band and will start her freshman year next week. She plays the tenor sax, is “obsessed” with anything astronomy, and loves Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra.

At 5 years old, Cameron turned to Sandy and said, “Mom, I think I’m a girl.”

Those words remained dormant until a few months ago, when Cameron told her mom again.

Her family is supportive, but sometimes her mom still uses the wrong pronouns.

Those slip-ups don’t disturb the strength of the Johnsons’ relationship.

It’s the strength of that support that helps Cameron cope with some of the hostilities at the middle school she attended since long before she began transitioning. Even though the school allowed Cameron to use the nurse’s bathroom as a restroom or to change for P.E., a policy to address these specific challenges would help her not stand out as much.

“If they did that, I wouldn’t be the record holder for going to the nurse’s office the most times during a day,” Johnson said.