It was a crush on the singer Pink that made Jaimee realise she was different to other girls in her Year 8 class.
"My friends were all off dating but I had no interest in boys. It wasn't seen as normal to date girls and that was pretty hard for me to come to terms with," she said.
Now 17 years old, it has been four years since she came out to her classmates as gay. It was a terrifying experience.
"Lesbian or gay or trans people had never been talked about in a positive light in year 7 or 8. It had always been, 'don't be such a lezzo' or' that's so gay'," she said.
"That really scared me and it made me feel quite anxious because I felt like I was holding in this big secret and I couldn't talk to anyone about it for fear of being shunned."
Jaimee is one of seven lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) young people telling their story as part of a groundbreaking teacher's resource to be used in year 7 and 8 classrooms.
All of Us is the first resource of its kind to be funded by the federal government's Department of Education, and will be available to all schools in both the public and private sector.
Commissioned by LGBTI youth group Minus 18 and Safe Schools Coalition Australia – which has more than 470 member schools dedicated to making classrooms more inclusive and reducing bullying against same-sex attracted and gender diverse students - it will form part of the health and physical education curriculum.
Seven video lessons, accompanied by classroom activities and posters, will explore the impact of homophobia and transphobia on students and schools, and explain what it's like for a transgender young person to come out and affirm their gender.
It also aims to break down gender stereotypes, understand the bisexual and intersex experience, and encourage students to be allies to their LGBTI friends.
Chris Bush, a health, economics and English teacher from Melbourne High School, who co-authored the teaching resource, said it would address a gap in the curriculum.
"It's not just about sexual diversity and gender diversity but it teaches the values of empathy and respect," he said.
"All schools, regardless of their religious nature or not, want to be places where students feel safe regardless of their difference."
Minus 18's Margot Fink, finalist for Young Australian of the Year in Victoria and one of the young people who developed and appears in All Of Us, says having the resource at her high school would have made a huge difference.
"To be a trans voice who can be seen and heard is so important for those young people who are trying to figure out their own identity," she said.
Safe Schools Coalition has faced opposition from The Australian Christian Lobby, who claim that the group are "teaching kids gay and lesbian techniques" and have called for the program to be axed.
Sally Richardson, national program director of Safe Schools said the latest resource – launched in Melbourne on Thursday – had been driven by teachers.
"For a long time teachers have asked for additional support in the classroom to help teach topics of gender diversity, sexual diversity and intersex, so we're just responding to that need that's been expressed by teachers," she said.
"It's quite groundbreaking in that it is Australian government funded and we're really hoping that schools right across Australia will pick it up and across school sectors.
jstark@fairfaxmedia.com.au
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