24 | OutBoise Magazine | NEWS
Looking at the research and the numbers, Tim knew
that he had to change. He wanted his daughter to live. It
was a hard lesson to learn. He realized that he had been
wrong, that this wasn’t just a phase. He said they had to
finish out the school year in Idaho Falls before they made
the move. When they moved to Boise he took a complet ely different approach.
“When I went to the school I didn’t let things go that
way, I requested a meeting with counselors, with the
principal, with the vice principal and the teachers,” Tim
said.
He explained to the school that his daughter was transgender, that they had issues with bullies and that she
would expect to be treated equally. He said that today
she carries her cell phone at all times and sometimes
wears a bully cam to help. He said that the local schools
in Boise have been a big help and pretty good about
the situation.
From DW’s perspective, she explained that her dad
would have long talks with her. He would try to figure
out why she was the way she was and wouldn’t always
agree with it. But one day he came home from a business trip and everything changed. She said that when
he came home it was an extremely emotionally moment
where she knew she was finally accepted.
It has taken time for her father and her to grow their
relationship, but now they are very close. She said that
her mother eventually moved to Boise as well to be
closer. When they moved to Boise she went to school for
the first time as a girl. No one knew that she was different
until she decided to go public. Tim said that she decided
to write an email about herself to the local news station.
They interviewed her and she spoke out about being
transgender.
DW added that she doesn’t have the type of personality to keep things bottled up. She’s very open about her
life and her thoughts were that if she was more open,
maybe she could help others like her. “I wanted to make
a difference, I wanted to help,” she said. The pair has
gone to several local meetings, they’ve begun to attend advocacy training, and they both spoke out at
the Add the Words hearing about their story. Tim said
that his daughter has big dreams. She wants to be out in
the public, she wants to be an actress and that she also
wants to help other transgender people. He stated that
she had already helped a lot of others in the town. Tim
said that he’s communicating with other parents and is
OutBoise.com | Issue 5.2 | March 2015