Hannah’s morning routine looks like any other 16 year old’s. She wakes up, eats breakfast, showers, puts on her uniform, slings a hefty bag over her shoulder and leaves for school.
While she would much rather be wearing a skirt, Hannah walks through the gates of her selective all-boys high school dressed like everyone else - in a tie, blazer, trousers and heavy black shoes.
Hannah, 16, came out as transgender last year and has made the decision to stay at her school, despite the uniform.
“I've tried to make them change their policy for about a year,” says Hannah.
“[The school says] if they give in to me, other people might ask for other changes.”
You sort of have to put on a façade and you have to make people think that you’re something that you’re not.
Hannah’s mum, Gagan, initially agreed with the school and felt the uniform didn’t need to be changed.
“I actually said to her 'look, I wear trousers and…I actually used to wear a tie when I went to school'.”
“[But a doctor explained] it's a really big deal for her because for that long she has lived as a boy…This is a very big step for her to feel at ease.”
Growing up, Hannah always felt uncomfortable with her body and started questioning her gender in Year 5.
“Pretending to live like a boy felt weird because it was different to how I felt about myself,” she says.
“You sort of have to put on a façade and you have to make people think that you’re something that you’re not.”
Since coming out to her mum and school last year, Hannah says she’s felt accepted in her community. And for Gagan, her child’s gender identity doesn’t change the person she gave birth to.
“I think it doesn’t matter – gender girl or boy – I have the same child,” says Gagan.
“She talks to me the same, she has the same dark and dry sense of humour- very sarcastic and cynical…And I just love her.”
