Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation's Schools

This isn't an article I wrote myself, I found it online. It is about a study that Harsh Realities did, the first comprehensive study on transgender students, and it's amazing. Some of the information pertains to a lot of us, and it's definatley something that we can talk about at upcoming meetings.

For those who want to read the entire thing, the actual article is: http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/2388.html


I'm just putting up some of the statistics in the article.

"Key findings of Harsh Realities include:

-90% of transgender students heard derogatory remarks, such as "dyke" or "faggot," sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.

-90% of transgender students heard negative remarks about someone's gender expression sometimes, often or frequently in school in the past year.

-Less than a fifth of transgender students said that school staff intervened most of the time or always when hearing homophobic remarks (16%) or negative remarks about someone's gender expression (11%).

-School staff also contributed to the harassment. A third of transgender students heard school staff make homophobic remarks (32%), sexist remarks (39%) and negative comments about someone's gender expression (39%) sometimes, often or frequently in the past year.

-Two-thirds of transgender students felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation (69%) and how they expressed their gender (65%).

-Almost all transgender students had been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened) in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (87%).

-More than half of all transgender students had been physically harassed (e.g., pushed or shoved) in school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (55%) and gender expression (53%).

-More than a quarter of transgender students had been physically assaulted (e.g., punched, kicked or injured with a weapon) in school in the past year because of their sexual orientation (28%) and gender expression (26%).

-Most transgender students (54%) who were victimized in school did not report the events to school authorities. Among those who did report incidents to school personnel, few students (33%) believed that staff addressed the situation effectively.

-Transgender students who were out to most or all other students and school staff reported a greater sense of belonging to their school community than those who were not out or only out to a few other students or staff.

-Although most transgender students (83%) could identify at least one supportive educator, only a third (36%) could identify many (six or more) supportive staff.

-Only half (54%) of transgender students reported that their school had an anti-harassment policy, and only 24% said that the school policy included specific protections based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. "

A lot of those statistics were really sad I thought, and this Friday (Transgender Day of Remembrance) is a good way to show our support for fellow gays/lesbians/allies.