This is not only about education, but survival. The strongest factor in ensuring the survival of LGBTQ+ children and adults is having a SAFE and AFFIRMING environment. We lose so many trans people -- to bullying, harassment, violence, suicide -- and so much of that begins in schools.

Applying non-discrimination policies to make sure that trans students are not harassed, attacked, and otherwise have to go every single day to an unsafe and hostile environment, should be an obvious policy. But the exact same arguments against this are the same ones I heard in the 80s and 90s that justified discriminating against gay and lesbian students, only repackaged to apply to trans students. We've seen the harmful effects of anti-gay discrimination versus the benefits of making such bigotry unacceptable in our institutions. We cannot keep repeating the same mistakes.

Students deserve to know about trans issues and trans rights. Trans students deserve to have their rights respected and to be able to go to an institution that is safe, not one hostile to their very existence. That starts with making sure discrimination against trans students, just like all discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation, is not given official sanction in schools.