The United States treats trans kids poorly. State legislatures and school boards are instituting bans on appropriate inclusion in school sports, the right to use the correct bathroom, and access to gender-affirming care. We have evidence and research on both the short- and long-term effects of those policies, and history will remember us if we don’t overturn them soon.
Perhaps fifty or even thirty years ago, it would have been reasonable to plead ignorance and to say that we didn’t know how best to help trans kids. While a hundred years ago we had a growing modern understanding of trans people, their needs, and how to ensure they had a fulfilling life. But the Nazis, the burning of the library at the Hirschfeld Institute of Sexology, the Hays Code, and conservative ideals during globalization helped to put a stop to all of that for a few decades.
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But we’ve been relearning all that was lost and more, and we’re recovering from our existence being covered up for so long. The backlash we’re seeing now isn’t from a couple of people society doesn’t understand. The backlash is in the face of a wealth of knowledge and studies that show the efficacy of gender affirmation, and the risks of poor mental health and suicidal ideation when that gender identity is denied.
Armed with all of that information, legislatures and school boards are denying the facts and pushing further trans bans, attempting to bar social transition in school, instigating forced outing, and rolling back protections intended to help address bullying and discrimination. Some of those policies may be political grandstanding to win votes, but they have a very real-world impact.
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The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF, the educational arm of the HRC) just released a new report based on their National Educator Survey on School Climate and Bullying. They surveyed hundreds of educators from forty-two states as well as Washington, D.C., to see how these policies are being implemented and what their effects really are.
While the results might not be entirely surprising, they do enumerate just how much of an effect these policies have. Educators from states with restrictive policies received less LGBTQ+ training, saw more harassment of LGBTQ+ people and those assumed to be queer, and felt less like they could step in when things got out of hand. All of that leads to a less inclusive environment.
And that shows up among the students: 40% of educators reported anti-LGBTQ+ as a “real problem” in their schools, warning that it should concern every parent, educator, and school leader. States that make life harder for trans youth with anti-LGBTQ+ policies are also over seven times more likely to compound the problem and restrict how much teachers can support them. And as LGBTQ+ kids in states with restrictive policies are more likely to need support, it means that the places where kids need more educator support are the same places where it isn’t available to them.
We have enough information and data to be confident in how to support trans kids and help them grow into happy and fulfilled trans adults, excited to be part of society. And we know the cost of not doing all of those things. We are armed with all of that information to support people, and history will remember it. Instead, we have policies that are actively harming trans kids in a way that we can predict, and history will remember that too.
But all is not hopeless, there are things we can do. This doesn’t have to be the era that history remembers for torturing trans children. It can be the era when a minority tried to hurt trans kids, and we stopped it.
Some of the anti-trans pressure on trans kids is coming from state and federal positions, especially when it comes to gender-affirming care. Swaying those elections can feel insurmountable if you live in a deep red state (of course, we should still try). But school boards have more control over policy than you may think. School boards vote on policies to introduce and how to respond to state and federal policy: when the district complies, and when it fights back.
Schools represent one of the biggest battlegrounds for trans kids: it’s the main place that they’ll struggle with bathroom and sports bans, prohibitions on social transitioning, a lack of protection against bullying, book bans, and limits on what educators are allowed to teach.
Those school boards are elected, and communities all too often ignore those races. Far-right groups like Moms for Liberty already know the power of the school board, and they’re ahead of us. That’s a problem, but lower community engagement can make those seats easier to flip; we can counter it by increasing engagement and elevating prominent community members who reflect inclusive values.
The school board in Sarasota, Florida, was once led by Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, but earlier this year a campaign flipped the school board even in the heart of a red state. A pro-trans candidate who fronts a punk band is trying to do the same in Wyoming.
The safety of trans kids is on the line. So what is your local school board doing?
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