The treatment of transgender students in public school sports varies considerably from state to state. Cassidy R., an agender 18-year-old in Utah, recalled: “I know a lot of my friends just didn’t go to the bathroom and suffered a lot of infections and health problems because of that.”, Daniel N., a 17-year-old transgender boy in Texas, said, “I don’t pee during school…. Amanda K., a 19-year-old transgender girl in South Dakota, recounted her experience trying to participate on her school’s cheerleading team. According to Alison McKee, senior director of Education and Training at Planned Parenthood Keystone in Pennsylvania: When schools did not provide information and students could not or did not get that information from their parents, they most often reported getting it from peers or the internet,[148] including Tumblr, a microblogging platform where users generate and post content. Found inside – Page 264... the expulsion of female teaching students from colleges due to pregnancy. ... on gender stereotyping, as constituting discrimination against girls. 3 (2015), p. 209. Prepaid Tuition: Parents, grandparents, and other interested parties may lock in today's tuition rates, and the program will pay out future college tuition at any of the state's eligible colleges or universities (or an equal payment to private and out-of-state institutions). The teen, identified as T.W., and her mother, Margie Nieves, filed the 20-page federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday, saying she was “devastated, humiliated and outraged by the racist abuse she suffered during a public school class she was required to attend.”. Lacey T., a 15-year-old bisexual girl in Utah, recalled that when she was a freshman: Even in the absence of overt bullying and harassment, LGBT students in each state where interviews were conducted suggested they felt alone or unwelcome in their school environment. Cisgender: Sex assigned at birth conforms to identified or lived gender. Catherine G., a 17-year-old asexual girl in Alabama, recalled one such incident in a story-writing exercise in seventh grade: Teachers’ reticence to talk about LGBT issues stems both from the existence of laws restricting their speech and a lack of training and guidance about what those laws do and do not prohibit. [268] Human Rights Watch interview with Charlie O. Found insideCan students be grouped by ability or achievement? Yes, unless it results in discrimination against a group of students. In the most publicized case, ... [332] International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Yet when cyberbullying occurred, many students indicated that their schools were reluctant or ill-equipped to respond. [331] See Emily Parker, “Constitutional Obligations for Public Education,” Education Commission of the States, March 2016, http://www.ecs.org/ec-content/uploads/2016-Constitutional-obligations-for-public-education-1.pdf. And I got yelled at for using the faculty bathroom.”[278] Teagan W., a 16-year-old transgender boy in Texas, said when using the faculty bathroom, “I get a lot of weird looks from teachers. In some instances, students who have sought accommodations from their schools have been outed to family, classmates, and others without their consent. Yet LGBT school personnel also encounter adverse treatment because of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Bianca L., a 16-year-old bisexual girl in Alabama, said: Michelle A., a genderfluid 18-year-old student in South Dakota, said: “I built something in a day … and I said it wasn’t really good, and he [the teacher] said, ‘Well, that’s lesbian construction.’”[76], Tristan O., a 21-year-old transgender man in Pennsylvania, recalled that when he was in school, many of his teachers made gay jokes with students, and “when teachers or authority figures make comments, you’re stuck with those people in school. Schools cannot, however, require GSAs to adopt a different name or broaden their mission as a condition for their formation. And if you’re LGBT, it’s 10 times worse.”[86], In some instances, students took advantage of anonymous apps to target and harass LGBT peers. Counselors who had some familiarity with LGBT issues noted that because they were assigned students alphabetically or at random, LGBT students at the school were not necessarily able to take advantage of their competency in the field. I felt like I was just hitting a wall.”[249]. For transgender and non-binary students, the event invited a stream of public commentary from their peers on their clothing and gender. Many LGBT youth have organized gay-straight alliances (GSAs), which can serve as important resources for students and as supportive spaces to counteract bullying and institutional silence about issues of importance to them. Amanda K., a 19-year-old transgender girl in South Dakota, recounted her experience trying to participate on her school’s cheerleading team. Found inside – Page 51tudes , Student Needs , * Teacher Student Relationship , * Undergraduate Students ... Politically disenfranchised , economically discriminated against ... Empirical challenges in documenting discrimination in student discipline. Aug. 30, 2002); Colin v. Orange Unified Sch. [17] Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003). Marcus A., a 20-year-old bisexual man in Alabama, recalled that one transgender student in the GSA said when he brought up the idea of observing the Transgender Day of Remembrance “one of our GSA sponsors said it was hard enough to get set up, that there were enough people against us that trying to include trans issues would increase the backlash.”[230]. We don’t do that for other things.”[121]. Schools that have enacted protections do not always clearly convey them to students, faculty, and staff. 05-1401055, November 2, 2015, https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2501220/letter-from-the-u-s-dept-of-education-to-daniel.pdf (accessed October 20, 2016); and White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, “Not Alone,” April 2014, https://www.notalone.gov/assets/report.pdf (accessed October 20, 2016). Christopher I., a gay transgender 18-year-old in Texas, explained: “The worst I got was from gay guys. Even when students were not punished, adults at times ridiculed them for gender non-conformity, including clothing. The school would be much wiser to teach the words of its namesake: “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”. Students reported being told their schools could not address bullying or harassment without proof, and used the fact that they lacked the evidence necessary to discipline a student to justify inaction. Glenda Elliott, a member of the Safe Schools Coalition in Alabama, said: Nora F., an administrator in Utah, explained how this spilled into classroom instruction: Carson E., a young gay male teacher in Utah, said: “I know a lot of male teachers who are gay, but they’re not out. Yet progress is uneven. In the absence of training, and with laws pertaining to gender and sexuality in schools—including anti-bullying laws and no promo homo laws—counselors may incorrectly believe they cannot counsel LGBT youth without parental permission. Ironically, District 65 school Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As Paul Hard, a counselor in Alabama, recalled: Kevin I., a 17-year-old transgender boy in Utah, said: When administrators react indifferently to bullying and harassment, it can deter students from coming forward. [278] Human Rights Watch interview with Silas G. (pseudonym), South Dakota, February 12, 2016. (pseudonym), Alabama, January 27, 2016. Transgender students expressed particular concern about physical assault and harassment in boys’ bathrooms and locker rooms, but described harassment in girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms as well. [220] As Serena I., a 17-year-old bisexual girl in Utah observed: “It’s mental abuse, almost, seeing all these posters up and yours is the only one that’s written on or torn down.”[221]. [14] Despite significant changes in public opinion toward LGBT people, resistance to policies that render schools safe and affirming leave LGBT students and faculty vulnerable in too many schools across the US. A lack of policies and practices that affirm and support LGBT youth—and a failure to implement protections that do exist—means that LGBT students nationwide continue to face bullying, exclusion, and discrimination in school, putting them at physical and psychological risk and limiting their education. Students said such platforms were powerful tools, particularly for students exploring issues of sexuality and gender who were in rural areas or otherwise isolated from supportive resources. © 2016 Mariam Dwedar for Human Rights Watch, —Polly R. (pseudonym), parent of gender non-conforming son, describing the hostile environment that LGBT children face in schools, Utah, December 2015. [27] Studies have suggested that “[a] higher risk for suicide ideation and attempts among LGB groups seems to start at least as early as high school.”[28], For LGBT youth, isolation and exclusion can be as detrimental as bullying and can aggregate over time to create an unmistakably hostile environment. [293] Human Rights Watch interview with Lucas K. (pseudonym), South Dakota, February 13, 2016. Alexander S., a 16-year-old transgender boy in Texas, said: Unlike gay and bisexual boys, who were rarely treated as sex objects by their peers, lesbian and bisexual girls said they were regularly propositioned for sex by straight male classmates. [232] Of the five states examined in this report, only Utah has statutory employment protections covering both sexual orientation and gender identity. Francesca K., an 18-year-old lesbian girl in Alabama, said: LGBT students often experienced rigorous policing of how they dressed and expressed their gender. Victoria P., a 16-year-old lesbian girl in Pennsylvania, said: Sonja E., an administrator in Texas, noted: “I know teachers have told me that they don’t feel comfortable putting up the photos of themselves and their partners that other teachers have put up, because they don’t feel they can be that visible.”, Kelly A., a 19-year-old gay woman in Utah, said: “One of my mom’s friends was a Spanish teacher who would refer to his ‘wife’ even though he’s married to a man, because he said he didn’t want students to avoid his class because he’s gay.”, Carson E., a young gay male teacher in Utah, said: “I know a lot of male teachers who are gay, but they’re not out. [131] Human Rights Watch interview with Evan H. (pseudonym), Utah, November 30, 2015. Yet even in classrooms and in communal spaces where school personnel were present, many students said teachers did little to intervene to stop slurs and verbal harassment. [84], In interviews, teachers themselves recalled colleagues making derogatory comments to students. A small number of students also said that GSA meetings were singled out for special monitoring by school administrators who sat in on proceedings, discouraging openness and discussions among members. Genderfluid: Gender fluctuates and may differ over time. [257] Human Rights Watch interview with Anna T. (pseudonym), Pennsylvania, May 4, 2016. So before school started, I asked an administrator if I could do a promposal, just when and how, not who I was asking. [264] Human Rights Watch interview with Willow K. (pseudonym), Texas, November 10, 2015. Such restrictions make it difficult or impossible for LGBT youth to get information about health and well-being on the same terms as heterosexual peers. When students themselves tried to raise questions that were pertinent to LGBT youth, instructors more typically reacted with embarrassment or deflection. 2d 667 (E.D. Transgender students interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that being made to use facilities that did not correspond to their gender identity made them feel unsafe at school or exposed them to verbal and physical assault. [57] Human Rights Watch interview with Lee W. (pseudonym), Pennsylvania, April 20, 2016. Like, ‘Oh, your dad is a cocksucker, a faggot, he sucks dick.’ … She saw a teacher laughing and that traumatized her even worse.”, Students also reported difficulty accessing information about LGBT issues from teachers and counselors, and found little information in school libraries and on school computers. Ensure that school policies against bullying and harassment establish and clearly specify what constitutes bullying, procedures for victims to lodge complaints, consequences for perpetrators, and protections against retaliation; Notify students that cyberbullying is unacceptable, establish clear reporting guidelines, and train staff to identify and respond to incidents. (pseudonym), Texas, November 5, 2015. In the absence of employment protections, many LGBT teachers said they feared backlash from parents or adverse employment consequences if they were open about their sexual orientation or gender identity. Amy L., a teacher in Pennsylvania, said: “We read. Some counselors overtly signaled they were unwilling or unable to be nonjudgmental resources for LGBT youth. Found inside – Page 63One common situation faced by faculty and graduate students of color and women ... exclusion and overt and covert acts of discrimination against students of ... Alabama state law dictates that “[c]ourse materials and instruction that relate to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include all of the following elements … [a]n emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.”, Texas state law specifies that the Department of State Health Services “shall give priority to developing model education programs for persons younger than 18 years of age,” and “[t]he materials in the education programs intended for persons younger than 18 years of age must … state that homosexual conduct is not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense under Section 21.06, Penal Code.”, Utah state law prohibits public schools from using materials for “community and personal health, physiology, personal hygiene, and prevention of communicable disease” that include instruction in “the intricacies of intercourse, sexual stimulation, or erotic behavior; the advocacy of homosexuality; the advocacy or encouragement of the use of contraceptive methods or devices; or the advocacy of sexual activity outside marriage.”. Article 19 of the ICCPR more broadly protects the freedom of expression. Eliza H., an 18-year-old bisexual woman in Alabama, recalled: “I was cyberbullied by a few of the guys on the football team because they found out I liked girls ... they kept making fake accounts and saying things over and over.”, In other instances, students circulated unflattering photos or videos to misgender, mock, and embarrass LGBT peers online. [108] Human Rights Watch interview with Ursula P. (pseudonym), Alabama, January 28, 2016. Missouri Revised Statutes Section 160.775(3) states that “[p]olicies shall treat students equally and shall not contain specific lists of protected classes of students who are to receive special treatment.” Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee have enacted laws that more generally provide that local non-discrimination protections cannot be broader than those outlined in the state’s non-discrimination protections. An error occurred while subscribing your email address. 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