Arrowhead is home to over two-thousand students, according to publicschoolreview.com. These students come from different cultures, backgrounds, and sexualities–and gender identities.

Roo Lemerond, a non-binary junior at Arrowhead, has many accounts of their opinions on how the school works with LGBTQ+ people and situations.

“I identify as trixic,” they say. “It means that I’m a non-binary person only attracted to girls.”

North campus at Arrowhead has two gender neutral bathrooms that are always open–one in the nurse’s office, and one to the left of room N128. There are also two gender neutral in the cafeteria, but according to Lemerond, they’re locked.

“I’ve only ever seen the lunch ladies get access to the neutral bathrooms in the cafeteria, and that’s because they have the key. It just kind of sucks because if I’m at the opposite end of the building, I have to walk across the whole school,” says Lemerond.

In October, a board meeting was held to discuss transgender students and gender-neutral bathrooms, and it was attended by multiple students. After a board member responded negatively, the students walked out, led by a parent. This article explains the situation in-depth. 

Lemerond says they have been bullied for their sexuality at Arrowhead before, which is another issue.

“The first time I was harrassed was in sophomore year,” they say. “I cut my hair shorter that year, and I make it kind of obvious I’m gay. A kid barked at me in the hallway, and I was confused because I didn’t know what it meant.”

Not only was Lemerond harassed in the hallways during school, but they also say that they and their partner at the time were shouted at during the homecoming dance in 2021.

“Some kids barked at my friends, and two boys also came up to my partner and I asking to switch dates. Since we both presented feminine, it seemed as though they were just sexualizing lesbians as what they called a joke. It was really upsetting for both of us,” they say.

Arrowhead, according to their website, has an anti-bullying policy. Lemerond feels like it’s not very well preserved.

“If I’m being honest, the anti-bullying policy at Arrowhead is a load of [expletive]. Teachers freak out over students swearing but don’t blink an eye when a student is called a racial or homophobic slur by their peers,” they say.