An elementary school in Maine last year cited district equity and demographic policy guidelines for the reasoning that it reclassified the Pham's son as female, pending further review. After moving from Florida to Maine for a job in renewable energy last year, Linda and Bao Pham were surprised at how quickly school bureaucracy changed the sex of their child.
"When I read the email referring to Nam as 'Naomi' I naturally thought it was phishing," said Bao. What he found more concerning was how casual the school was about the change, which made him determined to put a stop to it. "They said it was standard policy to deploy gender-balancing protocols whenever boy-girl parity ratios fell outside the 49-51% range," he added.
As a result, Naomi joined the Tiny Robots Club, raised her GPA by 14%, and completely stopped terrorizing the neighbors. Bao then sent an approving email to the district and tabled all legal options. "As a boy, Naomi hated homework," he said. "If this continues, she may have her pick of the best Ivy League elementary schools in Portland."
In an email the following week, the school informed the family that Naomi had been transitioned back into a boy. It explained that the arrival of a family with three daughters triggered a reassessment of gender ratios and asked if the Phams would like Nam added to a priority‑balancing list in case future cohorts needed more female‑designated students.
"I really liked being a girl dad," Bao acknowledged. "I moved us here for a job in renewable energy, but I didn't expect my family would be subject to the same recalibration cycles as the wind turbines I've been redesigning."
According to Bao, his wife was recently transitioned into a man by her employer after two new hires turned out to be women. "His name is now Lindell," he added, "and he finally loves football as much as I do."
The Pham family portraits with their son and then daughter