In the Schools

       More than half of the trans*community experiences being bullied, harassed, and assaulted in public and private schools according to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Currently we hear a lot about bullying in schools with the recent high amount of news coverage on the subject. Suicides have been sweeping the nation, Among the trans* community, those who had been bullied, harassed or assaulted while they were in school half reported having attempted suicide. The national average of attempted suicide among the trans* community is forty one percent. These shocking numbers speak to the urgency of ending bullying in our schools. 

A concept that needs to be highlighted in this is heteronormativity, Heteronormativity is term used to describe a set of lifestyle norms that people fall into distinct and complementary genders (man and woman) with natural roles in life. It also holds that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation, and states that sexual and marital relations are most (or only) fitting between a man and a woman. A heteronormative view is one that involves alignment of biological sex, sexuality, gender identity, and gender roles. A project in the UK called The No Outsiders project, promoted teachers to teach lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) inequalities in their classroom, showing kids that people fall outside of the heteronormative. The No Outsiders project believes purposefully promoting the equality of LGBT community as part of a broader whole school ethos that celebrates diversity and challenges inequities of all kinds. The project provides books like The King and King, a fairytale where a king falls in love with another king instead of a queen; these books hopefully are showing children the acceptance of a diversity of sexualities and alternative family structures. The U.S. could really use similar programs if we taught our children to accept others who fall within or outside of heteronormative we could possibly reduce the high bullying rate within schools. We could reduce the discrimination against the LGBT community, gender, and gender expression. Our society needs to see outside of the heteronormative box to make some serious social changes.

* denotes transgender, transsexual and gender non-conforming