Posted on 04/24/2013 7:24:56 PM PDT by BBell
I've always known I was different. I knew I wasn't like the other kids."
That was Sierra Stambaugh's realization growing up in Red Lion Area School District. About three years ago, she came to another realization, one that explained the nagging feeling.
"It was that I identified as a male," Sierra said of being transgender.
Sierra cut her hair short, and her mom bought her men's pants. She changed her name to Issak Wolfe and has used it ever since, with full parental support.
Issak Wolfe is a Red Lion Area Senior High School senior now.
After an initial period when some people were confused and a few teachers "gave me negative feedback," he said most of his teachers and all his friends now call him Issak, and he's had a generally positive experience being a transgender student in a rural high school. He hasn't undergone surgery yet to complete the transformation, but plans on doing so soon.
That positive experience, he said, took a turn late last week.
With his friends around him last Wednesday in the cafeteria ready to vote, they realized his name was on the ballot, but on the wrong side.
Issak was listed as Sierra Wolfe, prom queen candidate.
"For a transgendered person, it is degrading to have that, and I wasn't even warned," 18-year-old Issak said.
Administrators weren't in the office, so Issak said he spoke with a guidance counselor and other staff. That's when he was told principal Mark Shue had decided to switch Issak to Sierra and list him on the prom queen side.
Later last week, according to Issak and his father, William Stambaugh, Shue explained his decision, telling them it was
based on tradition and he wasn't comfortable putting Issak on the boys' side of the list.
"(Shue) said the king was always a male and the queen was always a female. And he feels that's the way it should be," William Stambaugh said.
Stambaugh said the district has generally been supportive of his son, and the family's frustration is about this specific incident.
Stambaugh said he understands Shue is trying to do his job as an administrator, but "I wish he made a more progressive decision."
Issak's prom ordeal became a much-shared story on Facebook over the weekend; a post about it on Facebook.com/MyGayDay, a page dedicated to issues in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, has more than 3,000 likes.
Shue did not return calls seeking comment.
Red Lion Superintendent Scott Deisley, in a written statement on behalf of Shue and the district, declined to comment Tuesday morning, stating it would be best for the safety and well-being of Red Lion students to "respect our privacy in this matter."
Wants apology: Prom court voting is over now, with prom set for Saturday.
Issak said he has no ill will toward Shue or the district, and just wants an apology for the embarrassment and for missing out on the possibility of getting on prom court on his own terms. He's contacted the American Civil Liberties Union as well. Since the votes have already been taken, he's hoping to help prevent his situation from happening to another transgendered student at another school.
"I would like an apology, at a minimum," Issak said. "I wasn't given a fair opportunity. I mean, if I don't win, I don't win ... but I'm not a queen."
He quickly pointed out he's had nothing but positive interactions with Shue up to this point.
"I just think he made a very, very bad decision," Issak said.
Why do these attention whores always seem to want everyone to notice them and then claim how normal they are?
Why do these papers always refer to the she as a he when it is clearly a she.
- “It was that I identified as a male,” Sierra said of being transgender. -
You should have quickly identified yourself as a patient at a psychiatric ward. You have a mental disorder.
- She changed her name to Issak Wolfe and has used it ever since, with full parental support. -
The parents are abusing their child.
I’ll bet “he” can’t write “his” name in the snow.
So much for freedom of choice.
So what if a gay guy opposed him/her/it?
Waaaah Waaaah Waaaah! I want a pee-pee!
*Sheeesh* Enough already.
Let me know when he isn't shooting blanks. Oh wait, she just means cosmetic surgery to alter appearances. Maybe she'll become a pregnant male before she enters menopause.
With his friends around him last Wednesday in the cafeteria ready to vote, they realized his name was on the ballot, but on the wrong side.Issak was listed as Sierra Wolfe, prom queen candidate.
"For a transgendered person, it is degrading to have that, and I wasn't even warned," 18-year-old Issak said.
Sounds like she's a misogynist. What's so wrong with being a woman???
Look at me, look at me!
Sorry Sierra, not with your clothes off.
"...not that there's anything wrong with that!"
Pink journalistas in the newsrooms pushing the lavender mafia agenda.
I have a feeling that I have fallen into some sort of a rabbit hole. Where is the Mad Hatter?
Has it legally changed her name? Does his SSI crazy money come in his name or her name? God knows he/she/it is Bat Crap crazy.
Notice that the things father has a different last name.
Everyone egging on her mental disorder too. That's nice of them.
How about this, end school-sanctioned social events like the prom and make He/She real popular with the kids.
At least the freaks can have their own prom, but that would detract from their attention whore status.
Life has changed!
In the early sixties, I used to join my college roommate to his parents multi-thousand acre fox hunting farm, outside of Red Lion, PA. Happy race retired horses all around, as well as 30 penned male fox hounds, and another 30 females in an adjacent pen, all awaiting for their turn to feed at the common 20 foot food trough.
All awaiting the Too-to-toot of the fox horn on Saturday morning!
(Remember one evening when a hound didn’t return to homebase, and roommate and I took a foxhorn around the property, signaling in a Jeep, until we heard his distant baying! Good times!!!)
Who would ever know that this heavily Amish area of rural Pennsylvania would ever be involved in transgender politics!
Geez, I’m getting old.
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