Trans Derbyshire teen who suffered "horrendous" bullying has biker escort to prom
A trans teen with high-functioning autism who struggled with bullying throughout high school had a biker escort to his prom in a final rebuff to all those who made him feel “less than enough”.
Asher Troke, 16, arrived at the SMH Group Stadium with eight motorcycles, a BMW and a Ford Capri revving loudly in the venue car park. The entourage was arranged last-minute by panicked mum Lara Petine when the family was let down by other transport arrangements.
Lara, 33, said the riders had made the noise she had made for the best part of five years on behalf of her son “even louder”. She said: “To see his face, it was just a picture. I always know when Asher is definitely happy because sometimes he struggles to show emotions. That smile was just something else, it was absolutely amazing.”
Asher, who is biologically female and in the highest one per cent in the UK in terms of maths grades and studied 11 GCSEs including further maths, began identifying as male while attending The Bolsover School. However his mum said with his gender identity and additional needs came problems with other students.
Lara said: "He is crazily clever – insanely good at art and very creative – but he can struggle with expressing emotions and social situations. He can be quite uncomfortable.
"There’s that and the fact that he is different and doesn’t fit into society’s norms, which caused a lot of grief at school to the point that he was taken out of school for three months. The bullying was absolutely horrendous, the name-calling. The girls at school were so nasty. It was awful.
"It was just a really rough time throughout high school. When he first started it was fairly smooth but then it picked up from out of nowhere – it’s been a battle at every point with the school.”
When Asher was taken out of school Lara described meetings with school leaders during which she was told his hair was “too short” and that boy’s trousers and black Doc Martens were not “proper” uniform.
Teachers were “adamant” the behaviour towards Asher had been stopped and the students who had been bullying him were asked to fill out questionnaires about bullying and apologise in a handwritten letter. However, after three days back at school the torment resumed, Lara said.
Eventually, Asher did find a supportive friend group and was able to develop enough resilience to continue through school. Lara added: “He kind of just powered through and absolutely smashed his GCSEs, which I’m just ridiculously proud of.”
Lara, who grew up in a biker family, reached out to Matlock Bikers on Facebook when she and Asher were let down for transport “very close” to prom. She said: “I wasn’t expecting a great deal and then I woke up the next day, looked at my phone, and it had just gone crazy.
"I wasn’t expecting a huge turnout because it was so last-minute. The fact that they knew nothing about this kid and they still took time out to turn up – it was so loud, they were all revving their engines. It was insane.”
The Bolsover School has been contacted for comment.