"You say you love me, but you don't. You love the longhaired daughter in a dress, the one you always wanted to have. You love the perfect image of a girl that likes having her nails done. You don't see it, but that's not me. I'm not this perfect image, this girl. I'm a boy. I'm the imperfect image of a boy that likes wearing suits and also having his nails done. I'm imperfect like that."
This poem was a wake-up call for Rosália, 48, e Antonio Torquato da Silva, 45, to finally understand and accept that their son Lorenzo, 15, who was born female and named Geovanna, was in mental distress and the gender transition needed to happen.
To smooth out the process, the couple went to the school for help.
"It wasn't easy. I can't say we were prepared, but looking for guidance and information was essential. We always defended that people should be happy living the life they want to leave and it couldn't be different with our son," Rosália said.
At the school, the first issue was the bathroom. Lorenzo wanted the right to use the men's bathroom. But after classroom discussions and a referendum that showed the almost unanimous student support, the school created gender-neutral bathrooms.
The teachers were informed that one of the students would be undergoing a gender transition, and the school seized the opportunity to discuss identity, freedom and human rights in classroom activities.
But the most awaited moment was when Geovanna would publicly become Lorenzo. The school staff and the student made the announcement a little over a month ago.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV