Transgender Students, KNOW YOUR RIGHTS!; The Center for Transgender Equality Releases a Guide

by Cheryl Courtney-Evans
posted June 15, 2012

"abitchforjustice": Well folks, school's been out for a couple of weeks now...our young people are reveling in the idea of a couple of months of "no books, homework or tests!" and forgetting about the cares that come with educating themselves for their respective futures...

BUT there are some of these students who are dreading the return in the fall so badly, many of them are considering not going back; they are our Gender Non-Conforming (GNC; aka TGBL) students. The students who find themselves all too often bullied, teased and finding no relief or assistance from school administrations or teachers (who are often times apathetic, disbelieving or bigotted themselves).

FINALLY the federal government, via the Obama administration, has taken a hand to do something about this situation on a national level...and this initiative is addressing the specifically "transgender situation" in our primary and secondary schools with a letter clarifying who is protected under Title IX, so courts and federal agencies have concluded that discrimination or harassment because a person is transgender or gender non-conforming constitute sex discrimination.

Receiving this information from the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) blog, I felt it absolutely imperative that I share this information with my readers and allies that they might know it and share it with their transgender friends & acquaintences who are students; hopefully these students will make themselves familiar with these guidelines so they will have some sort of weapons with which to return to school in the fall. After all, they need their education as much as ANY other student going back into those "halls of learning". Their futures DEPEND upon it! Below please find this piece from the NCTE blog...download, copy and spread this word (I'm sure they want this word to get out).

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Advancing Transgender Equality
The blog of the National Center for Transgender Equality

June 14, 2012

Following the  Obama Administration’s groundbreaking letter to primary and some secondary schools clarifying who is protected under Title IX, courts and federal agencies have concluded that discrimination or harassment because a person is transgender or gender non-conforming constitute sex discrimination.

To help students understand and assert their rights in schools, the National Center for Transgender Equality is releasing Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Students: Your Rights at School, a new resource that outlines the laws protecting trans people in school and steps for bringing harassment and discrimination complaints to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.


NCTE "Know Your Rights" Guide


In the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, participants who expressed a transgender identity or gender nonconformity while in grades K-12 faced alarming obstacles:

• Seventy-eight percent reported harassment
• Thirty-five percent reported physical assault
• Twelve percent reported sexual violence
• Fifteen percent reported leaving school
• Fifty-one percent of participants who were harassed/bullied in school reported attempting suicide, compared to 1.6% of the general population

These shocking numbers show how important it is that all members of a school community work together to fight against discrimination. Anyone, including friends, family, and school staff, can file a complaint. Complaints do not need to be filed by the person(s) experiencing the bullying, harassment or discrimination. More details on filing complaints, as well as other options and resources, are available in our new guide.
Download the guide here.

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