Today marks the Day of Silence, when many students from middle school to college choose to remain silent to protest the harm caused by harassment and discrimination of LGBTQ people in schools. This year, GLSEN is offering students both in-person and virtual ways of participating.
While the current legislative season is seeing a horrifying record number of anti-transgender bills, there were three wins this week: the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo affirming that Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation, contrary to what the Trump administration had said; the governor of Arkansas vetoed a bill that would have prevented transgender minors from receiving gender-affirming medication or surgery; and the NCAA president has spoken in support of transgender youth in sports.
A bill introduced in both houses of the Tennessee Legislature would prohibit public schools from using textbooks or instructional materials “that promote, normalize, support, or address lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) issues or lifestyles.”
In the past month, school districts in two states have tried to ban Call Me Max, a delightful picture book about a transgender boy by a transgender author, calling it “not appropriate” for the children who heard it read to them. This would be awful at any time, but at a moment when trans youth are under threat from anti-trans bills in at least 24 states, it feels like the tip of a much bigger iceberg.
A new study has found that children with same-sex parents do better academically than those with different-sex ones. This is yet another study among dozens that show our children do as well as—or better than—those with different-sex parents, based on various metrics of well-being. Such studies have been vital in fighting for our rights in courts and legislatures—but often the “better than” results lead to a flurry of headlines asking if same-sex parents are better than different-sex ones. Sure, I’d like to believe in my family’s superpowers—but there’s a danger in jumping to that conclusion.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made sure she struck one more time at LGBTQ youth as she stepped down last week, with her department issuing a memo saying that “gender identity” was not protected under laws that ban discrimination on the basis of sex, and that schools are within their rights to misgender transgender students and force them to participate in programs and use facilities based on their biological sex.
GLSEN’s latest biennial National School Climate Survey, released yesterday, looks at the challenges that LGBTQ students face in school, the effects of a hostile climate, and the supports that can offset those effects—while also looking back at trends over two decades.
I wrote yesterday about the many attempts to ban LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books from schools and libraries—so here’s a story to counter that, about three different initiatives that are now offering free (yes, free!) LGBTQ-inclusive books and resources to educators and schools throughout the U.S.
In a moving new short film, a gay dad prepares lunches for his daughter during her first weeks of school and reflects on starting his family, his own difficult school days, and his hopes for the future. Along with the film is a short documentary that looks more broadly at what family means to LGBTQ people.
It’s a school year like no other, so here’s my updated annual collection of back-to-school resources for LGBTQ parents, parents of LGBTQ children, and educators! I hope it remains useful, regardless of the age of your children and whether they are learning in-person, virtually, or both.
