Gender Bender

By Jodie Morse

Fifteen-year-old Alex McClendon was the classic new kid in town. When the lanky 5-ft. 5-in. freshman sashayed into Georgian Country Day School in Carrollton, Ga., heads turned to gaze at her blond coif and perfectly made-up face. Beyond the look, the popular Alex had a flair for style. Nothing could come between her and the Calvins that were her daily uniform. Nothing except the board of trustees at her private school, who "invited" Alex to withdraw. It wasn't just her pierced tongue that rankled, but something she had taken greater pains to conceal: the fact that she is technically--and biologically--a he.

He was born Matthew McClendon, and "Alex" is just a preferred middle name, like the preferred female persona he has worn for the past two years. After an initial double take, Alex's peers didn't pay much heed to their cross-dressing classmate. But Alex engendered quite an outcry from others in his conservative rural community. Parents of kids in younger grades complained that Alex was negatively influencing their children. After a closed-door session, the school demanded that Alex either start dressing like a boy or leave.

Alex, who says he is not gay but "95% girl," chose to leave. Dozens of classmates--biological boys included--argued that the school was violating Alex's rights and donned hair bows in solidarity. But the protest was little comfort to the teen. "It really took a lot of guts for me to be confident enough to be who I am, and then this happens," he says. Alex, whose future plans include home schooling and a sex-change operation, says he originally went to private school to get a better education. This wasn't the lesson he expected.

--By Jodie Morse. Reported by Tammerlin Drummond/Atlanta

With reporting by Tammerlin Drummond/Atlanta