A sports teacher in the small village of Ohain, 20 kilometres from Bruxelles, in Belgium made his upcoming change of sex official, the latter resulting in much support from students, teachers, the school's administration as well as the parents of the students.
Jean-Charles is 43, married and father of two daughters. He teaches gymnastics and sports in the village school. Jean-Charles recently went back to work after a period away on "medical leave" during which he had started his transition. Upon his return, his students and colleagues noticed the radical change in his body, the way he carried himself and his overall behavior. On being called upon by the administrative body to discuss the doubts of the students, aged from 2-12, about his appearance, Jean-Charles confessed that he had started transitioning and that his operation is scheduled for July 2011.
The administration organized a meeting with the students, their parents and the teachers of the school last week in which the support that the school wants to grant to Jean-Charles was confirmed. Jean-Charles had been an outstanding teacher throughout his career and the school decided to support him. An entire structure of information has thus been put at the disposal of the children including pamphlets on transsexuality, counselling sessions for the students who may have difficulty understanding and/or accepting transsexuality, and the students' parents have been put in touch with scholars and research institutes that have an expertise in transsexual studies.
This comes about as an achievement for Belgium where only two weeks ago, a transsexual aged 24 killed herself while participating in a real-TV show about plastic surgery.
(Article translated from French; source here.)
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