The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXX

Noah Taveras
Helen Sullivan, Teacher
Hurley K-8 School
I was at school, in fourth grade. We were sitting in a circle of six. One kid
mentioned his older sister, who is transgender. Three of the students in the
circle were cool with it: the kid who mentioned his sister, another kid, and me.
The other three, not so sure. They all had weirded-out and confused facial
expressions.
“What?” one kid said. He seemed so confused, like he hadn’t heard of the
word transgender before.
“Wait. So that was your brother?” another kid asked.
The kid who mentioned his sister, we’ll call him Kai. He didn’t look happy
at all. He had seemed so confident talking about his sister.
“My sister,” Kai said again. He was more serious.
“Sooo, he used to be your brother?” the last kid asked.
“Ahem, he IS his brother,” the kid next to him added.
The circle we had made slowly turned into two rows of three kids.
“His sister is his sister, not his brother. She identifies as a girl,” I said. I hadn’t
even planned to say something, it kind of just happened.
“Okay, but in reality he’s his brother. He’s not a girl,” a kid from the other row
said. We’ll call these kids Adam, Kayden, and Tom. On the other row, sat me,
Kai, and another girl we’ll call Jay.
All three of us just stared in disbelief at the three kids sitting in the row in
front of us. I just thought everyone thought like I did. But I was wrong, it was
an ongoing issue since day one. A very big issue.
Kai’s face had zero emotion. He didn’t look like he wanted to be there
anymore.
“May I use the bathroom?” Kai said with his hand raised. The teacher
dismissed him and he left.
“What is wrong with you?” Jay said, disappointed.
“What? I was only telling the truth,” Kayden said.
The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond
4