She had immaculate makeup, ripped jeans and gorgeous tan skin. She greeted me with a confident smile. When I met her, masculine was the last characteristic that came to mind.

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of meeting and interviewing a transgender teen. The girl, whom I will refer to as Sophia, asked her real name not be disclosed.

Today, Sophia is confident with her appearance. “I’m attracted to anything with a reflective surface!” she quips.

However, the transgender teen wasn’t always so confident. Sophia is an LGBTQ teenager, a group in which eight out of 10 are bullied for their sexual orientation and seven out of 10 feel depressed or hopeless on a weekly basis.

Although assigned male at birth, Sophia has identified as a female from the age of 2.

“I always knew that I was born with the right brain but the wrong body,” she said.

Although she always felt and acted like a female, her mother was the first to figure out that Sophia was transgender. Her mother sent her to annual summer camps for children like herself throughout her childhood so Sophia could understand herself better. When she was 12, she went to her first pride day. There, she learned what LGBTQ meant.

“It is always upsetting when people are hateful to me and don’t accept that I am a girl,” she said. “I want to live my life as a normal teenager.”

Sophia revealed the struggles that she, as well as many other LGBTQ teens, face on a daily basis. Aside from battling with insecurity about her appearance and self-consciousness during her transition, the teen had to endure bullying from fellow classmates.

“I felt like no one would accept me.”

Sophia is not alone. Only about 25 percent of LGBTQ students feel safe in their own classrooms, and only 5 percent feel that all of their teachers and school staff are supportive of people like them. Unfortunately, because many teens believe that being the same and fitting in is better than standing out, LGBTQ teens are often bullied because of their “differences.”

For Sophia, the bullying started on her first day of elementary school. Classmates would always stare at her, point at her or talk about her behind her back.

“I thought it would never end. It was awful. No girls or boys would be my friend, and they would always treat me as if I was less than them.”

Sophia recalled when five boys would continually “push me around” in elementary school. “Later, after my transition,” she reflected, laughing, “they liked me!”

Most kids would never include Sophia until her transition. Despite the gender she identified with, most of her classmates would not accept her until she looked the part as well.

Sophia continues to deal with the issue of using the bathroom at her school. Unlike over half of LGBTQ teens, she is allowed to use the bathroom of the gender she identifies with. However, most schools are not all that accepting.

During elementary school, Sophia was forbidden from using the bathroom that she felt most comfortable in. The majority of transgender teenagers avoid using the bathroom altogether.

Sophia shared how she faces discrimination not only at school, but at home. Although most of her family was very accepting through her transition, she admits that her father was hesitant in loving her for who she truly is.

“Although he would still act as if nothing had changed,” Sophia said, “I could tell something was different. It felt insincere.”

In fact, 67 percent of LGBTQ teens report that they’ve heard family members make negative comments about people like them.

Her mother shared with me her experience through Sophia’s transition.

“At first, I was scared for my child. You hear things, and I know it can be a difficult life. But she is just so confident with herself, and I know that she will be OK.”

For all teenagers, the experience of bullying, depression, and exclusion is inescapable. To a lesser extent, I, along with most teens, have experienced many of the hardships that LGBTQ teens must endure every day. The only difference between Sophia and me is how we are treated. We teens need to accept each other for our similarities rather than reject each other for our differences.

Maria Proulx of Ledyard is a freshman at St. Bernard School in Montville.