Starting a high school can be a challenge for any student. Cameron Burnett, like any other freshman boy, wanted to fit in. Being transgender made this more of a challenge.

“I found out at about age 14 that I was transgender.  I always knew I felt like a boy. I just didn’t know there was specific term for it,” Burnett said. “So to find out there was a name for it, I was both relieved and a bit scared.”

1. S. McKinney in his study on transgender college students he found that “at an early age transgender students typically feel that they do not fit into the sex assigned to them at birth.”

“I just pushed it to the back of my mind.  I never did come to fully accept myself until last year,” Burnett said.  “It wasn’t ever something to “adapt” to.  It was who I was all along. Now I just have a word for it.”

While Kansas has hate crime laws for sexual orientation there are no hate crime or anti-bullying laws protecting gender identity.

“[Coming out was] stressful but nice in the end.  I had sat down with my parents and discussed my true feelings with them (something I had never done before) and they listened and of course still love me for who I am,” Burnett said.  “When it came to telling everyone else, I had a few people give me some crap about it but for the most part it went amazing.”

Bullying is an issues that many face, transgender people especially.  In msmagazine.com, it states that 78 percent of transgender people were severely harassed and bullied as a child where only 22 percent of cisgender people were harassed as a child as stated on bullyingstatistics.org.

“[My friends] took it really well,” Burnett said.  “ I know it had to be hard for them but they all did the best they could to make me feel as comfortable in my own skin as possible.”

Burnett is glad to be in a new environment more open and welcoming to the individuality and uniqueness of each student.  Not everywhere is as open and welcome to transgender people.  In an article written by the Human Rights Campaign it states that 32 states, Kansas included, do not have laws protecting these people from “being fired for who they are”.

“I’ve changed so much since I got here in August,” Burnett said.  “Not everyone loves school, but I can say I do.  I went to Mater Dei before this and I dealt with bullying and lack of friends.  When I came here my life did a complete 360, and I couldn’t be happier.”