Transgender Students Find Open Door at More Women's Colleges
Until last year, Ninotska Love would have been barred from attending Wellesley College. She's an accomplished student who has persevered through hardship, but under longstanding rules, the college would have rejected her because she was assigned at birth as a boy.
Now the rules have changed. This week, Love will become one of the first transgender women to attend Wellesley in the school's 147-year history.
"For me to be accepted to one of the best colleges for women in the nation, it is a big validation of the person that I have become. At first I couldn't believe it," said Love, 28, who was born in Ecuador, but fled to the U.S. in 2009 after being kidnapped and threatened because of her gender identity. "I'm so thankful to be here."