For years, the 42-year-old taught her students to treat difference as a new experience. Her difference was yet to be lived.

Born Nathan and raised in DeKalb County, she said boys were supposed to play sports, get married, have kids and live happily ever after. She tried that until she couldn’t.

In 2015, she began living life as Natalie everywhere but at Dunwoody High School, where she teaches. That would change this year. She prepared her students on the last day of school in May. Mr. Williams would not be returning, she told them.

“But Ms. Williams would.”

About the Author

Keep Reading

The DeKalb County Board of Education gave Norman Sauce III a one-year contract to serve as its interim superintendent. (Hyosub Shin / AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Featured

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones — pictured at an August rally in Peachtree City that also featured Vice President JD Vance — appears to have scored another legal victory over gubernatorial rival Attorney General Chris Carr in their battle over campaign finance issues. (Arvin Temkar/AJC 2025)

Credit: Arvin Temkar / AJC