Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students at School

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of creating safe and supportive environments for transgender and gender non-conforming students in educational settings. The "Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Guidance for Rhode Island Schools on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students” provides some guidance in creating a safe or supportive environment for transgender and gender non-conforming students here in Rhode Island. This guidance also helps ensure schools are acting in accordance with the state and national laws in place to protect these students. 

The guidance provided outlines clear objectives, including fostering an educational environment free from discrimination, reducing stigmatization, and promoting healthy communication between educators and parents/guardians. Statistics from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's survey highlight the urgent need for action, with alarming rates of bullying, exclusion, and mental health challenges reported by gender non-conforming youth.

Federal laws such as Title IX and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) underscore the importance of protecting students' rights and privacy. This includes ensuring that transgender and gender non-conforming students are addressed by their preferred names and pronouns, and that their transgender status remains confidential unless legally required to disclose.

Additionally, the guidance offers practical recommendations for addressing issues such as restroom access, dress codes, and participation in physical education classes. Schools are encouraged to provide gender-neutral facilities and to allow students to participate in activities consistent with their gender identity. This approach aligns with federal laws and guidelines, as outlined in the "Federal Laws & Guidance" section of the Rhode Island Department's guidance.

Education and training play a crucial role in implementing inclusive practices and supporting transgender and gender non-conforming students effectively. School personnel are urged to undergo training on topics such as gender identity, bullying prevention, and inclusive curriculum development. By equipping educators with the necessary knowledge and skills, schools can create a culture of acceptance and understanding.

Despite these laws and guidelines, more needs to be done to address the culture within our schools and community.

On page one, the document shares statistics about schools from The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s survey.

• 42% of gender non-conforming youth report frequently or often being called names

• 40% reported being frequently or often excluded

• >50% reported they did not participate in activities offered by the school out of fear of discrimination

The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, which surveyed 34,000 LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13-24 across the united states found the following:

• Nearly 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary youth attempted suicide

• LGBTQ youth who found their school to be LGBTQ-affirming reported lower rates of attempting suicide.

• LGBTQ youth who live in a community that is accepting of LGBTQ people reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not.

Laws and anti-bullying policies are in place to help improve this data and protect children, but more needs to be done. In our reading “Queering our Schools” by the Editors of Rethinking Schools, we read that six out of 10 LGBTQ teens said they felt unsafe at school and 82 percent had been verbally harassed because of their sexual orientation. As a result, 49 states have passed “anti-bullying” legislation, but that isn’t enough as it focuses on “bullies” and not homophobia, transphobia, or sexism.  Here we begin to understand that the culture of the community means as much as the words written in law or policy. When we shift our thoughts from "bullying" we can focus on social justices, which has the ability to meaningfully improve our communities.

In our reading “Being There for Non-Binary Youth” by Jey Ehrenhalt, we read about how  educators that can recognize their own behaviors and micro-aggressions are better able to identify them in others. It is important then to speak out in the moment, even when the transgression seems minimal, in order to educate those around them and show trans people that may be present that they are valued and safe. The reading encourages us to speak out, even when we are worried that we may say the wrong thing; saying something is better than doing nothing to shift the culture. Speaking out, helps trans students feel less alone.

Gender and sexuality are curriculum topics fraught with worry and reluctance. Teaches brace themselves for parental backlash and slanderous headlines despite the topics being written into the curriculum and the importance we know they carry. Not only should we cover these topics in depth from the earliest years of school on, we must move past the “heroes and holidays” version of representation and include persons of all colors, genders and sexuality into every part of our curriculums in an effort to change the culture without our community and nation. I appreciated how "Being There for Non-Binary Youth" included a primer with helpful suggestions for responding to family push back.

Speaking of our youngest students, I loved Ki's reading of "They, She, He, Easy as ABC." I found her to be kind and approachable, making a topic that might be confusing to our youngest learners seem possible, or even easy. By teaching empathy, acceptance, and understanding to young children, we can hope for a better and safer future. Teaching young students about pronouns, something that can make a person feel valued and acceptance, can have a tremendous impact.

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By educating themselves, educators will be better equipped to educate their students on this important, and frankly lifesaving (the data is jarring!) topic. Through this, students develop a better understanding and hopefully more empathy, thus transforming the culture of the community, making school and the community safer for everyone. There is work to be done!

As I am working with this topic for my teach out project, I wanted to share some other helpful links I have come across in my reading:

• Find the results of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey here. 

• Here is more information from the Trevor Project on suicidality and transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. 

• Here you will find a resource of actionable items to help create safer schools for LQBTQ youth from the Trevor Project.

• Please read more about gender-affirming care here, here, and here. Gender-affirming care saves lives. As a former pediatric psychiatric mental health nurse, this is something I feel passionately about.
  
  

In my former life, I was a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner student and I did a project about the mental health of transgender adolescents. The things I learned were eye opening and have informed my approach to care and education. I want to note that the number one protective factor in regards to suicidality among young, transgender and gender non-conforming adolescents is a supportive adult, especially a parent or guardian. And it is important to note that for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who are accepted and valued in their communities and homes, the suicide rate drops to about equal with their cis-peers. This means that safer schools and supportive communities really do save lives. When we know this information about other health topics, we act on it. We vaccinate against diseases, we wear seat belts, we pass laws to curb smoking. We can do this, too.