BLOOMINGTON - Trey P. said he never felt comfortable as a young person, not in school and not in the female body into which he was born.

Trey was born a girl physically, but he said he had a gender identity disorder in which his brain was imprinted with a male identity. Though born a girl, he never felt like, acted like or wanted to look like one, he said.

Turmoil worse in school

That turmoil inside was made worse in school, where he was called names and feared for his safety, he said.

"I felt like I had to be on guard all the time - I could never relax and have a good time," said Trey.

Now a graduate student, he said life gradually got easier as the years passed, and his parents became more accepting when they saw how happy he was.

Middle school student Mathew C. said bullying became so bad, he had to be home-schooled for a while.

"I got beaten up," Mathew said, choking back emotion. "I got beaten up."

For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people, school can be a dangerous place, experts stressed Tuesday at a community forum at Normal Community High School. The theme was "Making Our Schools Safe for LGBT Students."

About 175 people gathered for the forum.

Four educators and Normal Mayor Chris Koos made brief remarks before NCHS guidance counselor Camille Taylor moderated a panel. On the panel were: Suzie Hutton, Bloomington District 87 middle school teacher; Caroline Fox, Unit 5 high school teacher; Diane Zosky, acting chairwoman of sociology and anthropology at Illinois State University; state school Superintendent Christopher Koch; Unit 5 school Superintendent Gary Niehaus; District 87 school Superintendent Robert Nielsen; Deborah Curtis, dean of the Illinois State University College of Education; Gretchen Shelly, parent of an LGBT child; Stephanie Jones, Unit 5 school board attorney; Mathew C.; Jordan B., a high school student; and Trey, now a graduate student.

Jordan and Mathew, spoke about bullying at school. They said school officials often were callous or indifferent.

Later in the program, Jordan and Mathew said their situations improved and they learned to feel stronger and more self-confident when they found a supportive network of people, including sympathetic school officials.

A number of points emerged in the two-hour-plus discussion. Among them:

- Bullying is not just a high school or middle school problem; harassment came as early as fourth grade for some.

- Safety planning at schools needs to go far beyond tornado drills. It has to involve quelling stormy situations between students.

- A hostile atmosphere for any group of students makes the environment uneasy for all students.

- Young people commonly use "gay" as a term of derision for someone or something they don't like, but they need to be taught it is inappropriate.

- School administrators, staff and teachers need more training to be better able to support LGBT students, who need to be able to confide in them.

- Parents also are teachers on this and other issues. Whether they agree or not they find differences in sexual orientation acceptable, they need to teach empathy, compassion and respect for others, Jones said.