You Can't Shave in a Minimart Bathroom

Rochester, N.Y. -- An estimated one in 500 people have changed genders, but what happens when that person is someone's husband, father, and someone's teacher?

While doing the work of a teacher hasn't changed, the teacher has.

Mr. O’Toole is now Ms. O’Toole.
 
Sean O’Toole was a 40-year-old man who realized he was meant to live as a woman. But, Sean was also someone’s husband, and the father of two children, ages 11 and 17.

“How can you love someone when you don't love yourself?” said O’Toole. “The stress and the strain of what I was under was going to kill me.”

“There was always this Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde split in me,” said O’Toole.

So, Sean chose to live as Shauna. It bitterly ended his marriage and led to the hardest conversation of his new life: telling his children. 

“I said I've had personal revelations… No matter happens I'm still dad, but I'm going to start living as how see myself, which is as a woman,” O’Toole said.

Shauna’s daughter was heading off to college, leaving behind the father she knew. “When she left she saw me as a male. She came home… and I was a female."

Despite the life-altering change, Shauna says her children have adjusted and accepted her choice.

At school, the new Ms. O’Toole prepared for a fight -- a fight that never happened.

“It's been incredible. It's not what I expected. It's better, says Shauna. “A couple of parents said it went against their beliefs. Their views were respected… I've been told by former students that they had me pegged as trans long before. But they've been great. Students have been some of my biggest allies.”

Shauna wants to show she is still the same person that she still knows her science, and her students are still in capable hands. 
 
O'Toole has written a book, which she hopes will raise awareness of gender expression. Legislation against discrimination is also pending in Albany.

Reported by: Ginny Ryan
Email: gryan@13wham.com
Last Update: 2/05 8:58 am