The kids called Grayson Alexander "dyke" and "faggot." The bullying got worse when he came out as transgender the summer between eighth grade and high school.
Now a senior at Loyola University in Chicago, the Springfield native says attending school was “not fun.”
“Especially when I was trying to navigate that process of figuring out who I was, and where I fit in," Alexander says. "Being gay, or LGBT, or trans never came up in any way at school. And it left me feeling really alien."
He said he believes there is greater acceptance of trans people in the years since he was a teen and that the level of vitriol he experienced has lessened.
This school year, students in Illinois are being taught about LGBTQ historical figures such as inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci and pioneering Illinois social worker Jane Addams. Conversation about those individuals will be woven through the curriculum for students as early as kindergarten ...