Caitlyn
Jenner and other transgender celebrities like Laverne Cox, Candis
Cayne, and Chaz Bono have received a large show of public support. But
Lila Perry’s situation is not uncommon for transgender people who aren’t
in the spotlight. (Photo: AP/Robert Cohen)
A
transgender teen in Missouri is at the center of a heated debate about
her right to change in her high school’s girls’ locker room.
Nearly 200 students walked out of Hillsboro High School on Monday in a protest that lasted two hours.
Lila
Perry, the 17-year-old at the center of the debate, reportedly
identified as a gay male until she was 13 and publicly came out as
transgender in February. She previously used a gender-neutral faculty
bathroom but began changing in the girls’ locker room this school year
before her physical education class.
Protesters
were divided: One side supported Perry’s right to change in the girls’
locker room; the other wants her to continue to use the gender-neutral
bathroom.
"It
wasn’t too long ago white people were saying, ‘I don’t feel comfortable
sharing a bathroom with a black person,’ and history repeats itself,”