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Youth & Students

Transgender and gender non-conforming youth face challenges at home, at school, in foster care, and in juvenile justice systems. A national survey by GLSEN has found that 75% of transgender youth feel unsafe at school, and those who are able to persevere had significantly lower GPAs, were more likely to miss school out of concern for their safety, and were less likely to plan on continuing their education.

Critically, it is not just hostility from peers that threatens equal opportunity for transgender and gender non-conforming students.

Too often, school officials themselves single out these youth by refusing to respect their gender identity and even punishing them for expressing that identity. For example, 59% of trans students have been denied access to restrooms consistent with their gender identity. Rather than focusing on their education, many students struggle for the ability to come to school and be themselves without being punished for wearing clothes or using facilities consistent with who they are. Some are denied opportunities to go on field trips or participate in sports. Together with bullying and victim-blaming, these conflicts can lead to disproportionate discipline, school pushout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system.

Thanks to the hard work of parents, youth, educators, and state equality advocates, many states and local school districts have adopted non-discrimination and anti-bullying laws and policies that explicitly include gender identity and expression, as well as developing specific policies and training that spell out what nondiscrimination means for trans students.

From the Blog

Let Us Play: Make your voice heard for trans + intersex youth!

Big news: We’re launching the Let Us Play campaign to make sure that trans and intersex youth can play sports with their friends – and we need you!  The right to play is being threatened – and in some states, already taken away – all around the country. But we have an opportunity now to get protection at the federal level! The Biden-Harris administration and the U.S. Department of Education are proposing a new rule that would make it so that students can’t be banned from playing sports just because they're trans, nonbinary, or intersex. The time is NOW for us to tell them what we think. We want full and equal participation for ALL trans and intersex students in sports. Make your voice heard!

Get the Facts: The Truth About Transition-Related Care for Transgender Youth

As extremist lawmakers in state after state try to attack our transgender community’s basic health care, the misinformation is rampant. Serious misconceptions about transgender people are fueling legislation from Florida to Missouri to Mississippi – and they all aim to stop young people and their parents from accessing essential health care. Some even go farther, with some bills attempting to ban transition-related care until the age of 21 or even beyond. These bans attack our most basic values of privacy and control over our own bodies, and they’re based on misleading or even outright false ideas. Here are the real facts everyone should know.

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