I'm a queer, transgender woman who attended a Catholic, all-male high school in the mid-2000s. Which means I know first-hand how an unsupportive environment can negatively affect a young person struggling with their sexuality or gender identity.

One of the earliest memories I have is breaking into my mother's wardrobe as a young child and emerging draped in an ill-fitting dress, and consequently being severely scolded by an embarrassed aunt, who asserted that it "wasn't right" for me to do so.

Attacks on the Safe Schools program elicited protests in Melbourne last year. Credit:Penny Stephens

I wondered how my playful actions could possibly have alarmed my aunt so deeply, who explained that dresses were "not for boys". When I refuted that I wasn't a boy, she swiftly hushed me and asked I not repeat what I'd said. I grew to associate "girl's clothing" – and therefore, girlhood – with something that was off-limits to me.

When you are a child telling an adult that your gender is different to what they say you are, being told to be quiet in response can have lasting consequences, and I pushed down any feelings around my gender for over a decade.