Staci Ignacio

Raci, born Roy in the Philippines in 1985, came to the U.S. with her mother when she was 15. Pretty and vivacious, Raci has identified as female since childhood. She is keenly aware of how people respond to her, an awareness that is compounded by the facts that she is hearing impaired and speaks English as her second language. Bright and driven to succeed, she excelled in high school and received a California State University Presidential Scholarship, which will cover four years' tuition at California State University, Los Angeles. But Raci faces tremendous challenges as she begins her first year. For the first time in her life, she will be living apart from her mother, who has moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco for a new job. Money is a big concern. Raci shares a room in an East Los Angeles house with an aunt; the hormones she has been taking for three months come from an illegal street supplier who charges $20, about one-tenth the amount a doctor would charge. Finally, though Raci's family has long and lovingly accepted her as a transgender person, she doesn't want her classmates and her teachers to know. In order for them to first get to know her as an individual, Raci plans to stay closeted on campus.