14 March 7 • 2019
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continued from page 12
“I told my mom, ‘
I don’
t think I’
m 
a girl or a boy, and I think I want to 
change my name’
,” Lee says. “She was 
very supportive but, at my middle 
school, they weren’
t as supportive.”
Lee started a group at school to 
promote equality for those in the 
LGBTQ+ community but eventually 
changed high schools because they 
felt unsafe.
“I realized I don’
t really fit in 
public schools,” says Lee, who now 
attends a charter school focused on 
the arts. “It’
s been really good; they’
re 
really supportive.”
Like Apap, Lee feels fortunate to 
have an understanding family.
“I’
m much happier because I know 
this is who I truly am. I don’
t want to 
be like everyone else because that’
s just 
boring and not who I am,
” Lee says. 
“The discrimination is tiring, but now 
I’
m in a safe place, it’
s worth it.
”
Lee wishes other people would 
be more respectful and place less 
importance on the issue of gender. 
“We get asked so many questions, 
like what’
s in your pants, things 
that should never be OK,” Lee says. 
“When people meet me, they identify 
me as the transgender kid. I wish 
they would just know me as Lee.”

PROFESSIONAL POINTERS
Teens who identify as transgender 
or other sexual and gender minority 
categories have higher rates of anx-
iety and depression than cisgender 
(those who identify with their birth 
gender) and other LGBTQ+ individ-
uals, according to licensed clinical 
psychologist Melissa Farrell, Psy.D.
“In a very real biological sense, 
transgender people have the brain 
of one gender born in the body of 
another,” said Farrell, who specializes 
in the treatment of LGBTQ+ youth 

at Great Lakes Psychology Group in 
Dearborn. “Since we can’
t change the 
brain, our only recourse is to change 
the body.”
She believes families have a huge 
impact on whether vulnerable ado-
lescents will create positive identities 
for themselves or develop shame 
about who they are. Teens who are 
made to feel they disappointed their 
families will carry those negative 
feelings into adulthood.
Ypsilanti-based psychothera-
pist Anthony J. Beasley, L.M.S.W., 
M.S.W., agrees that people not sup-
ported in their gender identity and 
expression face more difficult chal-
lenges. For many transgender and 
nonbinary individuals, acceptance, 
respect and safety are scarce. 
“In school settings, they experi-
ence bullying and are often chal-
lenged with the issue of bathrooms 
and which ones they can use,” 
Beasley says.
Those who hide their gender or 
sexual identities also experience 
stress, especially when others make 
derogatory comments about gay or 
transgender people in front of them.
“People can either out themselves 
or stand idly by and let people say 
these horrible things,” Farrell says. 
Situations such as the recent ban 
on transgender people in the military 
and the steadily rising murder rate 
of transgender people adds to the 
tension this population is already 
experiencing. 
“There are national discussions 
about whether they (transgender 
people) should even be allowed in 
schools,” Farrell says. “All the media 
attention creates stress. We talk about 
cyberbullying — these kids are being 
cyberbullied by the news.” ■

Azriel Apap and his mother, Deb Kovsky, show the love and playfulness in their relationship. 

jews d
in 
the

Stephen H.
 Schulman 
Millennium Fund 
for Jewish Youth

Zuckerman/
Klein 
Family 
Foundation

Motor City USY

Please join us for a special screening of LIKE, the newly 
released IndieFlix original documentary, hosted by 
Federation in partnership with Congregation Beth Ahm 
and MCUSY. 

LIKE explores the impact of social media on people of 
all ages—especially kids—and inspires us to live balanced 
and meaningful lives.


The Maple Theater

We Need to Talk is a community-wide youth mental health initiative 
provided in collaboration with Jewish Detroit’s social service agencies, 
schools, congregations and Jewish identity building organizations

Register by March 18th at 
jewishdetroit.org/like

Seating is extremely limited. 

This event is open to the community at no cost thanks to the generosity of 
the Steven H. Shulman Millennium Fund for Jewish Youth, the Susie and Norm 
Pappas Challenge Fund, and the Zuckerman/Klein Family Foundation.

A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT OUR LIVES ON SOCIAL MEDIA