![DeVos refuses help to transgender students](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/64b646b/2147483647/legacy_thumbnail/266x150%5E/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F17%2F3e%2Faa5d6b37426789a2f15d25975387%2F180817-betsy-devos-getty-1160.jpg)
Alex Howe dreaded the long walk he had to take just to use the bathroom at his Texas high school — two unisex stalls in the middle of the sprawling building, far from his classrooms.
Because he’s a transgender boy, his school district barred him from the much more convenient boy’s restrooms. “It was isolating and alienating,” Howe, who was identified at birth as female, told POLITICO, the first time he has spoken publicly about being a transgender high school kid. And it didn’t stop there.