Anonymous interviews with transgender high school students
The term “transgender” is defined as “denoting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered for them at birth” by the Oxford English Dictionary. However, the dictionary definition does not illustrate the daily struggle transgender individuals face due to their gender identity.
While many people may view Yarmouth High School as a highly progressive, open-minded, and inclusive institution, we have a ways to go in improving the lives of transgender students. When I realized this, I decided to sit down with Trans students willing to talk to me about their lives and interview them about how they feel about their experiences at our school.
Student 1’s story:
Despite being only a freshman, this student is very aware of what it is like to be transgender at YHS. During our twenty-minute conversation, they provided a great deal of insight into their experiences.
When they were only fourteen years old, they were sent voice mails, harassing them by asking for personal information about their identity. When the student did not give up the information, the harassment was turned on their loved ones, where again, a fellow student demanded to know private information. Additionally, the student wishes to at least have the chance to be able to try a high school sport and experience the community of being on such a team, but they do not feel welcome due to the binary nature of many sports and recent discriminatory laws being passed across the country, banning trans children from sports. The student felt fearful that if such legislation could be passed in other states, what would happen here in Yarmouth Maine?
When asked who their biggest support at YHS was, this student immediately replied with their advisor's name, saying that they have been nothing but supportive of their journey and shutting down transphobic comments immediately. However, shortly after saying this, they went on to state, “I’d say eight times out of ten if I come into contact with an adult over the age of 25, I get misgendered.”
Student 2’s Story:
As a junior, this student has spent the last three years of their life living as a trans person at Yarmouth High School. Shortly after beginning the interview, the student spoke of a perceived lack of true allyship from some members of the school staff: “I think a lot of teachers have the idea they're super educated and they think they're an ally, and then they use that as an excuse to get away with not listening to me.”. The student had first-hand experience with the injustices that come from the perpetrators of harassment against trans people often being financially well off. They felt that children from influential families were more easily able to buy their way out of any situation.
This student had not only experienced instances of discrimination directed at themself but at their loved ones as well. While they felt confident in their ability to withstand such harassment, they were fearful of what might happen to the people they care about and whether or not their skin had thickened quite like theirs.
Student 3’s story:
When asked what the most challenging aspect of being trans was, this student said it was the systems in place for allowing trans students to change their names and pronouns: “It's so long and so inefficient.” They continued to describe how they have struggled for months to change their name on all of the school documents. Despite it being their official legal name, they have been forced to jump endless hurdles to have it represented on school records. This caused the student to feel unseen and unsupported by the school administration.
In conclusion, while Yarmouth Highschool is a generally accepting community, we have a ways to go to improve equity towards transgender students. Trans students deserve to have the same experience in high school as their cis-gendered peers, and in hearing their voices, we have the opportunity to learn how that might be achieved.
A response from Ms. Tripp
I have had the honor of working with transgenered youth for many years as a social worker, and I agree with what was said in the article about the fact that we've come a long way, and still have a lot of work to do. Fourteen years ago, when I started at YHS, talking about gender and gender identity was something students did privately, in isolation, and rarely transitioned while still in high school. It has been powerful to see our students feel safe enough, to some degree, to start this life saving process earlier and with a supportive community. I want to validate the fear that many feel as we watch legislation being passed in many states restricting access to gender affirming medical care and other laws aimed at suppressing/oppressing transgendered youth. I appreciated what one student said about being misgendered frequently. This is a great place for all of us to continue our work. Being misgendered is incredibly frustrating and depressing for someone who is trying to live in an authentic place. I would encourage people to keep trying to increase your awareness and understanding about genders and to grow more comfortable with using a variety of pronouns. It means a lot to people. Lastly, I wonder what trainings we could bring to our students and staff to continue to raise awareness and to continue to educate our community? Could we bring in speakers from OutME to lead workshops? I would love to hear thoughts about this.
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