kentucky.com – By Lee Romney – Los Angeles Times
San Francisco — Michelle WallowingBull was born a boy. But growing up on Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation, she knew from age 5 that she was a girl inside.
As a teen she bounced from the reservation to a South Dakota town to foster homes and back. In these remote communities, with a family steeped in addiction, she said, it was difficult to openly express the gender she deeply felt. Substance abuse and economic uncertainty followed – travails all too common for transgender people.