Transgender 8th-graders?

Rocky Horror Middle School:

In sixth grade, the school counselor called Michelle to tell her that the other kids were teasing M.J. and that it was only getting worse. "They were concerned because she was being open about who she was. The way she acted, the way she dressed," Michelle explains. That's when she knew that it wasn't a phase, and it wasn't a "problem." This was who M.J. was.
In Loveland, Colorado -- population 61,000, 92 percent white and heavily evangelical Christian -- Michelle didn't know what to expect when she began to work with the school to facilitate her daughter's transition from a boy to a girl. At first, it was difficult. The school "freaked out when I told them," Michelle says. "When we started with M.J.'s transition, I was envisioning riots." And so Michelle became an advocate for transgender people -- those who identify as a gender different from the one assigned at birth. Michelle organized trainings for the faculty and staff and prepared "cheat sheets" in case any of their students asked prying questions.
But on the first day of school, nothing happened. No flood of calls, no angry protests, and no bullying. Michelle was "happy and shocked" that M.J.'s classmates seemed to get it.

Reason No. 784,263 to Home School!

I understand Lou Reed's going to re-make one of his old classics: "Take a Walk on the Child Side." (Ba-da-boom!)

Teachers first began to suspect there might be a problem in fifth grade, when the boy's talent-show performance was lip-syncing to a Judy Garland record. (Ba-da-boom!)

The other parents got suspicious when he brought "Hello Kitty" pajamas to the sleepover. (Ba-da-boom!)

While other kids carried their books to school in a backpack, he took his in a Gucci bag. (Ba-da-boom!)

When the Cub Scouts went on a hike, he was the only boy complaining, "These heels are killing me!" (Ba-da-boom!)