Transgender Identity Schools

They deserve to feel safe in school, be protected from physical harm, and use the bathroom of their choice. The progress to giving them the liberties they yearn for, however, is slowed by the naive human beings that compose our society. Our country is filled with people that view themselves as kind, forgiving and welcoming, but they do not fight for what is right. Because our population is trapped in a utopian version of humanity, we cannot promote righteousness. Nevertheless, transgender students need us see the legitimate nature of civilization. In order for our world to match our currently inaccurate picture of life, we need to step out of our distorted reality. Since transgender students constantly face discrimination and violence, it is urgent that we create laws that specifically outline the freedoms belonging to transgender students, instead of mimicking the vague list of rights already part of federal law. With definitive legislation, we can effectively implement change. By making laws regarding the rights of transgender students, and then rigorously administering those rulings, we can change the way our society treats transgender students, and dramatically increase their quality of

Kansas passed a bill on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 that denies transgender students from using the restroom, as well as other facilities retaining to gender “when they are in various states of undress” (Committee on Federal and State Affairs, page 1; sec. 2; subparagraph b; lines 8-12), based on their preferred gender and forces them to use the restroom based on their birth sex. This bill was passed by the Committee on Federal and State Affairs in order to protect the privacy of students and to prevent “potential embarrassment, shame and psychological injury to students” (Committee on Federal and State Affairs, page 1; sec. 2; subparagraph f; lines 27-29). This bill also allows for students to sue a transgender student for two-thousand five hundred dollars if they are found in the “wrong” restroom. Forcing the transgender students in Kansas to use the restroom based on biology is wrong because forcing someone to disregard a personal preference to accommodate another is inhumane and has potentially deadly effects.

With so little transgender celebrities and almost no representation of transgender in the media, it is no wonder that you hear of so many trans youth killing themselves. The most famous representation of the transgender community is Sophie in Orange is the New Black, who was thrown into prison for credit card fraud to afford her transition. There is also Adam on Degrassi, a female to male transgender whose mom did not fully accept him until he was dying. Degrassi is my favorite representation of transgender youth because when people of the school found out about Adam, the jocks of the school started to tease him and pick on him, even throwing him into a window. This accurately showed what it is like to be living as a transgender person in a bigoted society where you don’t feel like you belong. One celebrity that comes to mind when some hear the term ‘transgender’ would be Caitlyn Jenner. Born Bruce Jenner and being a famous Olympian, she proudly came out as Caitlyn and made the brave decision to publically transition. But yet, people of the world did not want to accept her as Caitlyn. People even made pictures and posts saying “Bruce is not brave, our soldiers are brave,” and comments out loud saying “Gender identity is something Bruce Jenner is struggling with.” Although there was a number of support, trans youth cannot be expected to fully come out and love themselves if they have very little representation and

Restrooms: While a school may make individual-user restrooms an option, they are not permitted to require transgender students to use these facilities, or restrooms inconsistent with their gender identity when other students are not required to do so.

As quoted by Ellen Wittlinger, “you can only lie about who you are for so long before you go crazy.” As a member of the transgender community, this is the reality for my nephew, Riley, who now sufferers with extreme bullying simply because he wants to be himself, a boy. Through his transition, I have stood by Riley and have witnessed first hand the potentially fatal hate that he has been attacked with. Why does our society continuously contradict itself by saying “be yourself”, and then shun those who do? As Americans, we value individualism; therefore, we should stress the need for teaching awareness about the LGBTQ community. By seeing the hardships that my nephew has had to endure, I have become a much more compassionate to other and am

School is thought of as a safe, friendly environment for all to learn and share their ideas, creativity, and opinions. It should be, especially since Americans send their children to school, five days a week, seven hours a day. Unfortunately, not all children feel that their safety is ensured at their schools. Transgender youth feel as if they cannot be their true selves in an environment that’s supposed to be radiating of positivity and support. This is a result of bullying, denial of their gender identity, and being prohibited from using the restroom that matches their identity. Gender identity refers to a person’s inner sense of being male or female, regardless of the gender they were assigned at birth. Gender expression refers to the way a person expresses their gender in ways socially defined as masculine or feminine. Examples of these expressions are: clothing, behavior, hairstyle, voice, or mannerisms. Approximately seventy-five percent of the transgender student population feel unsafe in school. Some end up not even attending school, which results in their GPA plummeting. Because of the feeling in unacceptance and insecurity, their desire to further their education decreases. (Schools). In fact, LGBT students altogether are twice as likely to choose to not further their education than cisgender students (National Center). No one should find their education unimportant

In a lot of places around the world more and more people are coming out as “Transgender.” The term transgender means that the person’s gender identity does not correspond with the gender they were assigned as having at birth. From personally having a transgender boyfriend I have since realized that these people experience a lot of discrimination in and from society. Many people simply just do not understand what the term transgender means and they see it as someone just “wants to be a man” or “wants to be a woman.” While there may be people who present it this way, it is more so that the individual just “feels” different, and “feels” as if they are “in the wrong body.” Some people experience this feeling at a young age as my boyfriend did in his elementary age. We live in a world who put these people down for being who they truly are, and no human being wants or needs that.

The changing norms of the generation has brought upon commotion between various states because of the presidents judgement. The transgender bathroom policy allows transgender students to use the bathroom they identify as and not by the sex on their birth certificate (Fox News, 2016). The transgender bathroom policy has both successes and failure to ensure safety for transgender students resulting to its change being for not only trans-gender. Gender neutral bathrooms allows safety for those who are not only transgender, but also a part of the LGBTQ community, etc. but it causes a conflict with gender segregation. Adding additional bathrooms to suite other gender preferences costs more money and not everyone is going to accept what they walk into the bathroom and see. The gender neutral bathroom policy should be taken off of hold and be put into action because everything is constantly changing and those who do not identify as the sex they were assigned at birth are at risk for harm.

There is a lot of controversy on which bathroom a transgender student should use at school. In Maine, schools are allowing students to use the bathroom that goes with their gender identity. The transgender population in schools is growing. “Maine has had

The Department of Education (under President Obama) set out a policy under Title IX that defined how schools are required to treat transgender students. Colleges and universities that receive Federal

transgender students. The school newspaper, The Crimson White, explains the policy set in place, “The school complies with the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which prohibits gender-based discrimination for the federally funded educational institutions.” While the policy helps to prevent some discrimination within teacher-student relationships, it still doesn’t help outside the classroom with fellow students. The school has a support group in place for transgender students. Some of the students in the support group say that they face “varying degrees of harassment and discrimination on campus, and it isn’t always blatant as name calling or physical force. Sometimes, it can be a glance that lasts one second too long a misinformed

In past generations, it has been clear to society that males and females use segregated bathrooms. It is also known that the rate of transgender people has been growing over the past years. Transgender people constantly face troubles when using a bathroom in public. Nevertheless, as society has become more aware of the transgender population and the issues that they face, many schools have had to decide how they will respond about the issue of school bathrooms when students identify themselves as transgender. A school should be able to provide separate facilities based on sex, but must allow transgender students access to the facility which matches their gender identity.

Transgender people are deserving of having the right to use public facilities that correspond with their gender identity instead of being forced to use facilities that match their biological sex, which could put them in danger. There have been many cases of transgender people being denied access to use bathrooms and locker rooms for the gender they identify with, out of worry that they’d make other people occupying said bathrooms and locker rooms uncomfortable. The reactions of other groups of people shouldn’t determine the way transgender people are treated. As stated in an article about whether or not transgender students should be granted access to the facilities consistent with their gender identity, “Part of our Constitution and the principles of America is that we do not compromise the rights of the individual for the comfort of the others,” (Chiasson,1). Transgender people shouldn’t be forced to use facilities that match their biological sex and be put in danger just because other people feel that having a transgender person in a bathroom or locker room with them would be an invasion of privacy. Another good point made in that article is if an individual who presents themselves as a female, with long hair and feminine clothes, is forced to use a men’s bathroom, they are put in significant danger. Whereas, if they are allowed to use the women’s bathroom, most if not all occupants of the bathroom would never even know the individual is transgender, resulting in no

Passing Restroom policies to allow transgender children to use public school restrooms is not a bad idea. Although, I would suggest that lawmakers need reconsider, allowing them to choose the public bathroom based on their biological gender. Which could cause of confusion in an adolescent perspective; children would assume that boy can go walk in a girl‘s restroom and vice versa. However, it would better for transgender to choose the restroom based on their gender transition.

Today, the transgender bathroom policy is a popular topic in politics. If put into effect this law would allow students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity. When a student can’t use the bathroom they prefer, it conflicts with basic human rights. Every student should have the opportunity to be him or herself in a learning environment; no matter what gender they are assigned at birth. To be accepted by your peers is also a very important concern to the transgender community as they struggle with accepting themselves. Much violence is aimed towards them due to being different. Transgender students should not have to plead for their basic human rights in school.