One of my kids is trans, and a 9th grader in a Norfolk shogun School.

At school they have been called every homophobic or transphobic slur you could imagine. They have been excluded by their peers in every conceivable way. As parents, we had no way of updating student records to correct name, pronouns, or gender before beginning classes each year (thankfully, most individual teachers have been very supportive in this regard.)

Any resources to make school more accessible and safer for our students are appreciated, but action is needed to ensure that ALL students have a safe, constructive, and nurturing environment on the classroom.

Some  (probably “well-meaning”) people in this conversation have voiced concerns about trans people assaulting others in bathrooms or somehow making schools less safe. There is NOT ONE documented incident of a trans person attempting to assault another person in a bathroom or locker room within the last decade. There are, however, countless examples of trans people being harassed, having their privacy invaded, being thrown out of establishments, or even being assaulted for the sake of this complete unfounded straw-man argument of transgender people assaulting others. It’s completely nonsensical and bogus. But the reality is that trans kids are significantly MORE likely to be assaulted, more likely to commit suicide, more likely to experience homelessness, and less likely to graduate high school and/or college than cis-students. We have to do more to deconstruct the institutional barriers we have long propped up against the LGBTQIA+ community.