Page 24 - 2018_Jour_85-1_Societal-Issues

24 The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin: International Journal for Professional Educators

appealed to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in his favor (Palazzolo,
2016). Then the district appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the court voted
to block the order until it decided if it would take up the case (Balingit & Barnes, 2016).
After President Trump’s reversal of the federal guidelines, the court sent the case back to
the lower courts, which ruled it moot because Grimm had graduated (Marimow, 2017).
Without a definitive ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, the bathroom issue is left up to
the various state and local communities and thus remains an issue.
Other memoirs from transgender adolescents echo the bathroom issue and other
forms of discrimination and harassment. In writing about his own negative experiences
at a private school and then in switching to a large high school, Arin Andrews (2014), a
transgender male, said,
Our high school administration had actually been really supportive of my
transition—the teachers all called me Arin. I still had to use the bathroom in
the nurse’s office because I wasn’t allowed to use the guys’ room, but they at least
understood that the one for girls wasn’t an option for me. (pp. 8–9).
Not all memoirs report support from schools and teachers. Katie Hill (2014), a
transgender female, shared that when she reported teasing to her school administrator
for a third time, the administrator said, “Well, maybe you shouldn’t be such a tattletale.…
Besides, boys will be boys. There’s not all that much I can do. You’re just going to have
to get used to it” (p. 109). Hill says she “never went back to school for help again” (p.
109). Many of the teens whose stories are told in Beyond Magenta (Kuklin, 2014) shared
negative school experiences. Research studies support their negative experiences.
A National School Climate Survey (GLSEN, 2016) found that
a large majority (75.1%) of transgender students feel unsafe at school, experience
verbal harassment (73.6%), and have been physically harassed (32.5%) or assaulted
(16.2%) due to their gender identity or expression. In addition to peer victimization,
transgender students face high rates of gender-related discrimination: four out of
ten (42.2%) of transgender students are prevented from using their preferred legal
name at school; 59.2% are required to use the bathroom or locker room of their
legal sex; and 31.6% of transgender students are prevented from wearing clothes
because they were considered inappropriate based on their legal sex. (p. 11)
In addition, the experiences of transgender students can affect them long term:
A hostile school climate can negatively impact a student’s life trajectory from
education and employment to long-term achievement and well-being. LGBT
students who report more severe victimization or who report experiencing
discrimination at school have lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of
depression. Research also indicates that negative school climate is associated with
LGBT students missing days of school, earning lower grades, and not planning to
go to college. (GLSEN, 2016, p. 11)

Ways Schools Can Be Supportive
Alvarez (2017) offered suggestions for ways schools can support transgender students.
She included whole-faculty discussions about location of gender-neutral bathrooms and
changing areas, ways to incorporate the preferred names and pronouns, and working with
a student’s counselor and family with the student’s permission. She noted that educators
must understand their own views and not let these hinder the success of the student and
that educators need to ask questions and learn about LGBTQ students. She reminded
educators that it is appropriate to ask students for patience as they adapt to working with