Leo, 6, Brooklyn NY

LEO, 6, Brooklyn, NY

The playground, barbie, the color pink, my friend Ellie, the block party, dress up, dancing, singing, Broadway, Disney World coloring make me happy. Tickle fights. Fart jokes. Silly stories make me laugh.

What makes me sad is not being heard.

I don't have a best friend at my new school. That makes me sad. In my last three schools I had a best girlfriend at all of them. They all like to play princess and family with me.

The bully at school thinks I'm a girl. I feel sad but I know she is wrong. My other classmates told her she was wrong. The teacher lets her say those things though.

At my first kindergarten and my frenemy in my class now say I’m a girl and I can’t dress how I want. When someone is mean about how I dress, If it is a stranger I don't care. If it is someone who knows me and wants to tell me what to like, I get sad and mad.

I want people to know that nobody can tell me what to like.

LEO’s PARENTS

From a very young age, Leo expressed who he was. Around the time he turned one, particularly when he started to walk, Leo carried a purse at the babysitter's house and grabbed a skirt from Dani's (mom’s) laundry whenever available to wear as a dress.

Most of the people in our personal lives have been quite supportive. There are a few family members on Mike's (dad’s) side who are not supportive and take religious issues. His preK was awesome, and the teacher there created a wonderful atmosphere for him to grow and thrive and for his classmates to benefit as part of that experience. During his one year of public school, he met with shame, bigotry, and ignorance, mostly from the administration and teaching staff, but rarely from his classmates and their parents.

School, as mentioned before, proves to still not be a safe place for LGBTQ and gender non-expansive kids. Mike no longer communicates with several family members due to their unwillingness to accept that gender is fluid and that Leo's gender is not theirs to define or police.

The reward is that he is the most interesting person we know.

Having never been shamed by us, Leo's confidence, creativity, and curiosity seem limitless. He's uninhibited and brings good things out of others.

He hopes to be a pop star and a veterinarian. We hope that people stop being so afraid of anyone who is non-conforming.