re: 6 Year-old Transgender

quote:

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Two years later, toward the beginning of first grade, I got a call from the school nurse. My daughter, the nurse explained, had peed in her pants in the middle of the cafeteria.

I rushed to the school with a dry pair of pants and underwear.

"What happened?" I asked.

Isabel was silent.

"Did you wait too long? Are you feeling sick?"

It would be hours before she would tell me, "I couldn't hold it."

"Why do you think you have to hold it?" I asked.

"I can't use the bathroom," she said.

There was anger in my throat. What teacher doesn't allow children to use the bathroom?

"I'll talk to your teacher. This is crazy," I said.

"No, mommy," she said. "It's not the teacher. I can't go because I'm not allowed in the boys' bathroom and I don't belong in the girls' bathroom."

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