Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students

  This week we were assigned to watch a Woke Read Aloud video and read the RI Department of Education's Guidance for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students. In this blog I will be connecting the video and reading. 

The video by Woke Kindergarten is a video intended for a younger audience. The reader is showing the viewers a book called They, She, He Easy as ABC which shows young children how it is easy to respect a person's pronouns and gender expression. The reader, Ki, does a great job at explaining how, yes it can be confusing at first, but that does not mean we should not listen to a person when they tell us their pronouns. They even go into explaining that just because a person presents as a certain gender, we should not assume that they use the pronouns attached to that particular gender. Ki also touches on people who use multiple sets of pronouns such as they/she. They do an awesome job at explaining it in a way that young students can understand but also not oversimplifying and invalidating the community. 

Rhode Island's guidance for transgender and gender nonconforming students is evidently a great tool for teachers to use as a resource to educate themselves. It begins with how all RI schools are dedicated to creating a safe space for all students, including transgender and gender nonconforming students. There is absolutely no tolerance for discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. It also goes into why these students need guidance. 42% of gender nonconforming students frequently have to deal with name calling and 40% of gender nonconforming students say they often feel excluded from their peers. These students are also more likely to struggle with their mental health, which is understandable as they are often bullied for simply expressing themselves. The next section in this reading are the federal laws and guidance on this topic. This shows educators how these students are protected under federal law. It also shows the state laws and policies that protect these students as well. The next section touches on important terms and definitions all staff should know. These terms include: Assigned sex at birth, bullying, gender, transgender,  and gender nonconforming as well as many other terms. The reading goes into how to understand the psychology behind gender identity and transitioning. It also touches on preferred pronouns and the privacy of the students. Another important topic is the bathroom and locker rooms as these students can often be subjected to harassment, bullying, or even acts of violence in these environments. 

The video we had to watch and the reading go hand in hand. The reading is more advanced but both are trying to educate people on transgender and gender nonconforming people. These people are a crucial part of our society and need to be respected just as anyone else would be. They should not be discriminated against and that starts by the rest of society educating ourselves on this topic so we can be allies and not enemies.