The Gender Is Stored In The Crocs

I work at a day camp, and one of our CITs (counselors in training) is trans male. I personally think he looks very masculine, but apparently, the kids in his class don’t because they constantly misgender him. This week was especially bad, which I eventually learned was because one of the other CITs was openly encouraging the campers to call him a girl. Today, the transgender CIT is wearing a green camp employee T-shirt, short black athletic shorts, and an expensive brand of athletic shoes.

One of the adult counselors in that class is also trans male, but he’s post-transition with a beard and can’t be mistaken for a woman. He is wearing the exact same green camp employee T-shirt, short black athletic shorts, a baseball cap, and Crocs.

We are all on the playground. One of the kids is sitting on a bench swing with the transphobic CIT — so, in retrospect, I think he was egging the camper on — and refers to the trans CIT as “her”.

Me: “[CIT] is a boy.”

Camper: “She looks like a girl.”

Me: “Sometimes boys look like girls, and sometimes girls look like boys. But he’s a boy.”

Camper: “Well, I think she’s a girl.”

Counselor: “Why?”

Camper: “She has girl clothes.”

Counselor: “We’re wearing the exact same clothes!”

The camper stops to look at them and thinks about how he can explain why one of them is a boy and the other is a girl.

Camper: *Triumphantly* “Your shoes are different!”

Me: “So, Crocs make you a boy?!”

Since then, I’ve referred to the CIT as Mr. [CIT], the same as I refer to the adults, and it seems to have helped. Also, the transphobic CIT hasn’t come back.