The Kids are Alright part II

Preface

Today I learned that a British transgender teacher was found dead in her home. Its believed she killed herself.  I can’t stop thinking about her and my tears have now run dry.   Despite the bright sun and welcome spring-like weather, it feels like I’m suffocating in a dark grey cloud of sadness.  Usually my long Sunday run is rejuvenating, triggering endorphins and brightening even the darkest days, but it didn’t today.  I never met this woman and only saw a picture of her this morning.  I recall reading a few blog posts earlier this year about her and how she began to transition in school.  I guess I had a personal interest and it was encouraging to learn of her story, especially that she had her school’s apparent support.  But the bloodthirsty tabloid press constantly hounded her from the time her private details became public, and her life was never the same again.  Nearly two years ago, I came out to my school community,

The Kids are Alright

It was an early January morning in Maine and the temperature outside was somewhere below zero. I don’t think it matters all that much once the mercury drops below freezing; it was cold.  I was sitting in my warm car trying to find the courage to walk across the parking lot and go inside.  I had cafeteria duty at the high school where I was a teacher for eight years.  During my tenure at this school and at all the other schools where I taught in my 19 year career I worked outwardly as a man, but that was all about to change.