Post by Logan on Feb 18, 2016 5:31:58 GMT -6
PIERRE, S.D. | When Thomas Lewis told his South Dakota high school last year that he is transgender, teachers called him by his new name and used male pronouns when addressing him. But he says the accommodations stopped at being able to use the men's bathroom.
Instead, the 18-year-old senior chooses to go home for lunch every day, where he feels safe to use the restroom, before rejoining his classmates at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls.
Lewis has even spoken to his state's Legislature against a bill that would require transgender students like him to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their sex at birth, telling them that such a law "makes me feel like I'm not a human being."
It fell on mostly deaf ears: South Dakota is a governor's signature away from being the first state in the U.S. to approve such a law.
Read more: siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/south-dakota/transgender-student-south-dakota-bill-doesn-t-accept-me/article_f5bab635-e86c-5dba-a08d-ccf1cb325995.html
Instead, the 18-year-old senior chooses to go home for lunch every day, where he feels safe to use the restroom, before rejoining his classmates at Lincoln High School in Sioux Falls.
Lewis has even spoken to his state's Legislature against a bill that would require transgender students like him to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their sex at birth, telling them that such a law "makes me feel like I'm not a human being."
It fell on mostly deaf ears: South Dakota is a governor's signature away from being the first state in the U.S. to approve such a law.
Read more: siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/south-dakota/transgender-student-south-dakota-bill-doesn-t-accept-me/article_f5bab635-e86c-5dba-a08d-ccf1cb325995.html