Creating an Affirming High School: A Participatory Action Research With Transgender and Nonbinary Youth

• In Event: Educating Queers, Queering Education

Abstract

This study aims to explore the possibilities of creating an inclusive and affirming high school for gender-diverse students. Through a three-year youth participatory action research, this study seeks to understand transgender and nonbinary youth (TNB) high school experience by centering youth voices. The preliminary results revealed significant differences between students’ and educators’ perceptions of TNB students' school experience. Students experienced a more deeply and implicitly hostile environment beyond educators’ awareness. In the meantime, we observed the reflection of societal-level transphobia in school which diminished the protections of school resources for TNB students.

Authors

• Lu Xu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Veronica Moermond, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Rachel Roegman, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign