Sam Long, a math teacher at the DSST charter school in Denver, was probably more nervous than any ninth-grader who had ever dared speak at part of the school assembly called What’s Your Story.

Long will tell the story at the U.S. Capitol Thursday and Friday as part of a 50-state lobby day coordinated by the National Center for Transgender Equality.

His story is complicated, especially to tell it to ninth-graders. It wasn’t that he’s basically Canadian.

Long told them he was born a girl and lived that way until he was in high school. Long is 26 years old and he’s been living in Denver for two years after leaving his home in Toronto. He was afraid of what the silly teens would say or do, when it’s his job to teach them the basics of algebra.

And that was the thing that clinched the decision to tell them. He is a teacher.

“It’s difficult because they’re young, and it might be difficult to process right away,” he recalled over the phone Sunday. “But at the same time they’re young enough that it’s going to make a huge difference if they hear about this and see trans people being normalized.

“I can’t see myself as a teacher and not be open about this part of my life.”

Long told the school administration what he was trying to work up the courage to do, and they were supportive and willing to back his decision either way, he said. Long sat down and looked at the freshman in school that day in April and began, “My story is about identity.”

Long told them about when he made the transition in high school, and how he was treated. He told them he sometimes used the forest near the school to relieve himself, because he wasn’t allowed to use the boy’s rest room. Instead of mocking him, his students gave him respect, and the courage to keep telling other people.

“That was really positive. That’s what made me want to do this lobby day,” he said.

Long said he left Canada for the U.S. because there is a surplus of math and science teachers there but a shortage here. He also has dual citizenship, because he was born in Massachusetts before his family moved to Toronto. His parents were international students from China.

He thinks Colorado is about “middle of the pack” on transgender rights.

This year the legislature added LBGTQ people for protections under state hate crime laws, but again denied them a simplified means of changing their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity.

“Colorado is really out of step on that,” Long said, noting Canada made that change years ago, and it’s a vital need for transgender people like him.

“It basically gives people the freedom to be who they are and to move around in the world,” he said. “Your birth certificate is what all your other ID is based on.”

One Colorado, the state’s LGBTQ advocacy group, has made transgender rights its focus this year.

“It’s important for transgender Coloradans and their families to keep telling their stories – to those around them and to the people who represent them at every level of government,” said Daniel Ramos, One Colorado’s executive director. “Transgender people are our friends and neighbors and deserve to be treated with respect and to have the same opportunities as anyone else.

“Attacks on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community continue to permeate state legislatures across the country and we have seen multiple rollbacks on protections for LGBTQ people at the federal level. We’ve come a long way over that past few years to advance equality for the LGBTQ community, and there is still a long way to go until transgender Americans can be treated fairly.”