Bathroom Bills and the Gender Identity Debate: Complicating the Policy Conversation About Supporting Trans Students

• In Event: 79.050 - MTCC Roundtable Session 36
  In Roundtable Session: 79.050-3 - Policy, Praxis, and the Education Rights of LGBTQIA Students

Abstract

This paper employs survey data from 47 parents/guardians of trans youth in one state to explore the kind of roles do schools play and how prepared they are to support transgender and gender expansive students. We examine the ways the current policy climate problematically narrows the conversation about transgender students, impacting both the public discourse and the reports of trans families in this study. However, deeper analyses of both qualitative and quantitative data reveal a more complicated story. Drawing on policy studies literature regarding agenda-setting and implementation, we ultimately advocate for a more nuanced conversation about supporting trans youth – one that foregrounds equal educational opportunity and the creation of school cultures where all students can learn, grow, and thrive.

Authors

• Amy Nichole Farley, University of Cincinnati

• Bethy Leonardi, University of Colorado - Boulder