Why a Long Beach student is asking the school district to add more gender-neutral restrooms

Admin January 16, 2019

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Draped in a transgender flag Amber Va, is a transgender Poly High School studnent, in Long Beach on Tuesday, January. 15, 2019. Va started a petition to bring more gender-neutral restrooms in the Long Beach Unified School District. She has had success at Poly, Wilson and Cabrillo but Thursday she'll speak at the school board meeting urging the district to do more on the issue. (Photo by Brittany Murray, Press-Telegram/SCNG)

Amber Va has grown accustomed to the stares when walking the halls at Long Beach Poly High School.

The 17-year-old senior, who identifies as a transgender woman, said she’s been called nearly every kind of slur over the years. Va said she realized that she was a transgender woman her freshman year, after identifying as a gay male during middle school.

“Growing up, you could say I was in the closet,” she said. “Because I was. I always had a feminine personality, I was bullied and harassed for all of that back in middle school. I’ve been called every single thing you can imagine. It was hard. Children can be harsh.”

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Continue to full story here https://www.presstelegram.com/2019/01/15/why-a-long-beach-student-is-asking-the-school-district-to-bring-more-gender-neutral-restrooms/