Trans teen dies by suicide after sharing video of guidance counselor mocking her for wearing a skirt to school

A 17-year-old student, who goes by the name Avril and identifies as a trans woman, wore a skirt to school one day because she felt like it. But little did she expect her choice to be mocked and questioned by someone who is expected to be patient and understanding with young teens like herself. The guidance counselor at Avril’s school was reportedly not okay with her outfit, and went on to mock her for her choice of clothes.

A week after the incident, Avril is said to have died by suicide. The teen recorded a video as she was being yelled at by the woman and shared it on her Snapchat. It has since been re-shared on multiple social media platforms.

In the video, a counselor is heard saying “I understand that you want to be yourself, I understand that perfectly. Everything I’m doing now, it’s to better help you, that’s what you don’t understand!” the counselor later screamed at her. “Because, once again, some people have different opinions than you do and aren’t your age. It’s that simple. They don’t have the same upbringing.”

“But they’re the ones who need to be educated, not me,” Avril responded in the video, and she’s visibly disturbed. “I totally agree! I agree with you!” the counselor interrupted, to which Avril said, “Then I don’t understand why you have a problem with me.” Towards the end, she shows a picture of her in a knee-length skirt and leggings, with the caption, “This is what I was wearing.” Apparently, Avril was also sent home early for wearing the skirt.

French LGBTQ+ publication reported that Avril was living in a foster home at the time of her death. Her school, Lycée Fénelon, immediately responded to the death by saying that they were not responsible. In the school’s statement, it reportedly deadnamed Avril and used masculine pronouns while referring to her. “It is very complicated to understand what happens in the head of a young person who makes this kind of decision,” Jean-Yves Guéant, leader of the school’s PTA, told the publication. “But it’s obvious that the school bears no responsibility for this.”

The director-general of school education at the Ministry of Education, Edouard Geffray, said that sensitivity training about trans issues is included in the “moral and civic education programs for fifth, fourth, and third.” However, students close to Avril say they never received any such training. Zya, a nonbinary friend of Avril’s, said that “she was always smiling, when she was in a skirt she felt herself.”