A Case Study: Supporting Transgender Students
Diana leading a training to increase Gender Equity
2022 was a challenging year for gender rights. The Dobbs decision turned rights of privacy and bodily autonomy away from the individual and over to the states. School boards debated whether to keep inclusive environments available to all students and faculty. And states put families on alert that they should not support the needs of their transgender children. It’s scary for teachers, students, and families alike. Part of our job as educators is keeping our students front and center as a driving priority in their education. How do we sustain this in an environment where a student’s very identity is questioned, and a vocal minority can be downright cruel?
Throughout the year, several schools reached out to me to discuss how they could prepare to support their transgender students and staff, as a dramatic and life-affirming alternative to the damaging and dangerous policies being implemented. All of our conversations centered on one major theme - How can we make school a safe place for our students and staff? I was gifted with the opportunity to explore this journey with one of my favorite local schools over the course of 2022.
We set out with a singular mission - to make the school a more inclusive space for gender diverse individuals. Creating organizational change is not a simple task - there are thousands of details, what-ifs, and legal responsibilities that go into these questions… not to mention making it a part of your school’s wider culture and identity. We opted to author a new gender identity policy for the school to adopt that would be guided by a select group of teachers and students to ensure that it reflected both best practices and legal requirements, but also the school’s unique culture. Using a series of trainings, model policies, and guided discussions, we ended on a policy that relfected the input of both students and staff, reflected the newest national guidelines, and preserved the best parts of the school’s culture while leaving behind aspects that no longer honored their identity as a diverse, inclusive, and high achieving school.
I’ll be honest, we went through more than a few drafts of the policy and sometimes our group meetings were spent discussing a single line of text, and its implications on the wider school community. Here’s the thing - that discussion is worth it! It’s what creates community buy-in and builds empathy within the staff. Facilitating that dialogue is the most challenging part of my work but also the most rewarding. There are students (and staff) behind the writing process; they will be deeply impacted by its wording, and therefore it’s essential that they’re given a voice in its creation. I find that grounding the discussion in radical empathy and data-backed statistics allows us to reach a student-centered policy that allows the entire community to thrive.
Once we landed on a final policy version, we were ready to begin the next stage - introducing it to the school community. This process can take a while - it’s still incomplete for this particular school. Change takes time, effort, and intentionality. I find that even in the most welcoming schools (of which I would consider this case study to be high on the list), policy adoption and systematic change can take years (ooofff - I don’t want to hear that Diana…I want it to be a quick fix!!). These slow changes lead to a more lasting positive shift that becomes part of the wider school culture, and I’ll tell you what, all students and staff benefit from it!
I’ve written about this before, but it bears repeating that using affirming language with transgender students literally saves lives. Beyond that (although - let’s be real, that’s more than enough), respecting gender-diverse individuals' ability to express their identity and keep their privacy is the law. Creating an environment that is accepting of all individuals, regardless of their gender identity, is key to forming a welcoming school culture and safe school environment. Your community is worth the effort.