Rachel Pepe, a transitioning transgender student from New Jersey, has been refused permission to return to school using her new gender identity
Rachel Pepe, a transitioning transgender student from New Jersey, has been refused permission to return to school using her new gender identity, reports The Raw Story.
Pepe last year attended Thorne Middle School in Middletown, New Jersey, but when she tried to register for classes with her new gender identity, the school district said she would have to return using her birth name “Brian.”
Rachel's mother Angela Peters said that sending her daughter back to school as “Brian” would cause a recurrence of the crippling depression that she suffered with last year.
“She would get off the bus and just cry. Then she would go to sleep for 17 or 20 hours and refuse to go back there. Although Pepe wouldn't share her grief, a mother knows when something was wrong.”
An official also told Peters that the school lacked the ability to accommodate Rachel and rejected her attempts to propose possible solutions.
Although Middletown Schools Superintendent William O. George said he had no knowledge of the controversy, he added that “every child is different and their education and social and emotional well being is my priority. We will work with them to find the appropriate placement.”
Watch a report about Rachel Pepe, AFTER THE JUMP…
