Article

Creating Safe Schools for Trans and other Gender Nonconforming Students

25 min read • first published • updated • 2,802 views

Hello there!  If you’re reading this, then you’ve probably learned that you have a transgender⁠ (trans) or otherwise gender nonconforming⁠ student at your school or in your life. Or maybe you’re reading up in hopes of proactively making your school a safer space, whether you’re a student, staffer, or parent/guardian. Either way, we’re glad to have you here.

Why create a safe school?

In 2023, three percent of K-12 students identified as transgender, and another two percent were uncertain or questioning⁠. 40% said they were bullied or harassed at school, according to a study by the CDCexternal link, opens in a new tab. With fears about safety and harassment, trans kids were more likely to skip schoolexternal link, opens in a new tab and their schoolwork and educational opportunities suffered. The hostile environment also increased the risk of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation, something we already know trans kids experience at higher rates than cis kidsexternal link, opens in a new tab.

Because so much of adolescent life is concentrated around school, a supportive and safe school environment can be crucial to a trans student’s well-being and future. For instance, high rates of harassment are correlated to a higher likelihood of dropping out⁠, which decreases their chances of positive life outcomes. A safe school doesn’t just improve conditions for trans kids: It also sets a model for how to behave, and lays the groundwork for being an empathetic and respectful person. 

You undoubtedly have transgender and otherwise gender nonconforming individuals in your school right now, but they may be closeted and afraid to come out due to a hostile educational environment or uncertainty about how they will be treated. A proactive trans-inclusive program will help your students feel safer in school, and that means they’re much more likely to reach educational goals, perform their best, and contribute to the school community, in addition to being healthier, happier people.

Common Questions

There are some common questions that many cis people have about trans people. It’s understandable to have some questions, especially if you’re encountering the trans community for the first time. We’ve assembled some common questions and answers for you as a starting point — for more information, you can check out resources at your library or online, including our Trans Summer School series.

  1. How is being trans different from being gay⁠? This question comes from people conflating gender and sexual orientation⁠. Gender refers to how people interact with the social constructs surrounding gender, and how they define themselves in reference to those constructs, while sexual orientation has to do with who people are attracted to, which may or may not be based on gender. An individual’s gender does not dictate their sexual orientation and vice versa. Therefore, trans individuals may identify as gay, straight, bisexual⁠, etc.
  2. How does someone know they are trans? The short answer to this question is simple: They just know. Think of it like this: If you’re cisgender⁠, how do you know? Did you give the response I just gave? Being cis is seen as “normal,” so we don’t question people who are that way. Because being trans is not considered the norm, there is an assumption that trans people must have a very specific, empirically provable reason why they identify that way. Gender feels and seems obvious to people, but can sometimes be difficult to articulate. So if someone tells you they’re trans, the best thing you can do is take them at their word. It’s important to know that people’s understanding of their gender can shift over time for a variety of reasons, and that people who are questioning their gender may express and explore that in a number of ways. Uncertainty doesn’t mean that someone is or isn’t trans: It just means someone is figuring out who they are.
  3. What is transition? Do all trans people go through the same transition process? Transition refers to possible personal, social, medical, and surgical steps that people may take to affirm their gender—and gender nonconforming people can do this too. For example, a transgender woman might opt to start dressing and presenting herself socially as a woman. She could also decide to take hormones⁠ that would change the shape of her body, soften her skin, and encourage breast⁠ growth. She could pursue surgical transition, a family of medical procedures that help align her body with her personal experience of gender, as well. A gender nonconforming person might change the way they dress, or get top surgery⁠ to feel more comfortable in their body. There is no one, true way to be trans or gender nonconforming, and not everyone goes through transition, or chooses to pursue all possible avenues when it comes to transition. Some people may want surgery and hormones while others may not. One student may feel safe changing in the locker room, another may not. It’s up to the individual person to decide what process and pieces of transition are right for them. Trans young people, will likely be most interested in social transition, which can include presenting with their given gender, taking a new name and pronouns, and being treated like other members of their gender—e.g., a trans guy should have access to the men’s room like all the other boys at the school. Others may work with their parents and medical providers to explore medical transition options, in which case they may need accommodations to take time off from school for medical appointments and procedures, and they should be treated like any other student who requests medical leave.
  4. Wait, why isn’t this trans masculine⁠ student acting super butch⁠? How come this trans feminine⁠ student isn’t wearing skirts all the time? Does that mean they’re not really trans? No. Gender identity⁠ and gender expression⁠ are two separate things. Think of it this way: We have a cultural understanding that cis girls can be tomboys, girly-girls, goth butches, sporty femmes, etc. We acknowledge that there is not a universal way that women express their gender (although some expressions are more culturally rewarded than others). The same is true of trans women (and trans people in general). Just because a trans person does not present the way you think they should does invalidate their identity.
  5. So have they had “the surgery”? This is an inappropriate question that doesn’t have relevance in an educational setting or anywhere else. Your student’s genitals⁠ are pertinent only to them, select medical providers, and their sexual partners. If your students need time off or accommodation for medical procedures, including surgeries, information about the nature of those procedures isn’t necessary, though you can ask how much time they need off, and whether they need accommodations at sports and other activities that require physical exertion, as they may have orders to rest for several weeks. If you are running a boarding school, your student should meet with the nurse to discuss any medical needs that might need to be met while at school, such as weekly hormone injections.
  6. Won’t kids regret transitioning? Children are too young to make big decisions and they might be influenced by trends or classmates. Numerous studies indicate that regret rates for transition are very lowexternal link, opens in a new tab—lower, in fact, than things like plastic surgeryexternal link, opens in a new tab. Among people who do detransition, the reason often isn’t regret: It’s inability to access care, harassment, social stressors, or forced/nonconsensual detransition. The earlier young people access gender-affirming care, the better their outcomesexternal link, opens in a new tab, and we see over and over again that gender-affirming care is tremendously beneficial to young people. Kids just want to be kids and they know gender isn’t a trend, although greater awareness of trans people may lead young people to learn some things about themselves and create space for them to explore their gender.
  7. I hear trans kids are getting fast-tracked through transition, including surgeries, is that true? In a word: No. With young people who are questioning their gender or telling parents they are trans, the first step is usually counseling to discuss their gender and explore their identity. Next may come social transition like changing their name and pronouns. As kids approach puberty, puberty blockers—which basically press pause on puberty—may be an option. These medications give kids a chance to think through their gender and they are totally reversible. A child can go off blockers and go through puberty with the hormones their bodies make, or they can pursue hormone replacement therapy, which is also reversible: They can just stop taking hormones. Before going on HRT, people of all ages receive extensive counseling about the risks and benefits, and with young people, clinicians are really careful with counseling and taking things slowly. As for surgery, very few trans minorsexternal link, opens in a new tab are receiving surgical care related to their gender. It’s worth noting that cis kids pursuing gender-affirming care, including surgery—such as treatment for gynecomastia, HRT to address delayed onset puberty, or breast reductions—receive that clinically-indicated care every day without fuss. 

Trans Kids and the Law

On a local, regional, and national level, trans people are under attack in a number of countries, and that’s especially true for trans young people in 2026, when this article was last updated. Some countries or localities are barring access to transition care; denying the right to update identification documents at any age; classifying information about trans health, culture, and rights as “adult content” and restricting access; mandating that people use facilities aligned with their sex assigned at birth; requiring teachers and other professionals to tell parents when children disclose that they are trans; ordering teachers to call on the names on students’ official enrollment papers, not the names they use; spreading propaganda about “transgender ideology” in official government communications; attacking hospitals, charities, and other organizations that work with trans people; revoking the protected status of trans people; and much, much more. Adults who help trans young people, especially if they are also trans, may be accused of “grooming” and could even face legal consequences for helping people access transition care and resources to support them. 

The legal climate is also emboldening people who hate trans people; the trans community is reporting an uptick in harassment, abuse⁠, and assault, whether in doctors’ offices, at work, at school, or in any number of other places. When the law dehumanizes you and encourages people to hate you, the world can become very scary. This is especially true of trans people of color—particularly trans women—who are already disproportionately vulnerable. These conditions make it even more essential to make schools as safe as possible for trans young people, in any way that you can, and for you to build confidence, faith, and trust with trans kids so they have an adult they can count on. As you think about the trans young people in your life, also be realistic and honest with yourself about how you can support them and where your capacity might be limited; don’t make promises you can’t keep, or overcommit yourself to something that’s too much to take on. 

This legal climate can feel really bleak for trans people of all ages and the people who love them. For young people, this situation can create a very hostile climate at school—which is supposed to be a safe place for learning, socializing, and building community. All young people deserve access to a safe, healthy, and affirming educational environment where they can be their whole selves, and also come to a deeper understanding of who they are. Some of the guidelines below about making schools safer can feel hollow, or may even directly contradict law and policy—when we revisited this guide in 2026, we opted to leave them more or less as-is to reflect the ideal world we can build together. You can pick and choose between things you are able to advocate for or implement, and we also encourage you to think outside the box in creative ways that will allow you to advocate with your trans students—including those who are closeted, and may not have even shared that they are trans. There’s often more than one way to achieve a goal, including weaponizing the tactics of hostile people against them. 

If state, local, or school policies are hostile to trans students, that doesn’t mean you’re out of options for addressing harassment, bullying, and other negative behavior. When you can, you may be able to frame it around disruption, rather than a student’s identity, when you are talking to the offending student, school staff, or their parents. For example, if people are picking on a student in class for any reason, that makes it harder for everyone to learn. If a student is following someone into the bathroom or sabotaging their work, you can discuss the behavior directly.

Being a young person often means being surrounded by people who make choices for you, talk down to you, and deny your experience. It often feels incredibly disempowering and sometimes very scary. To support young people, you need to advocate with them, not for them, as much as possible, and to provide them with as much agency as you possibly can. Have frank conversations about what you can and cannot do under the law, the risks and benefits of choices they might make, and your personal capacity to support them. Invite them to actively participate in discussions about how to make schools safer or address specific issues they are experiencing, and make sure they know that when they aren’t in the room, you are still thinking about them. You might have suggestions for things they can do, or things you can do to help, but present them as options, not the only or best choice. 

At times, these conversations can be hard, and it’s okay to say that and sit with the discomfort. 

Sometimes admitting you don’t know what to do, or that a situation just sucks, or just sitting with someone who’s having a hard day is the best way to be kind and brave, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. Be the no-BS person that young people need in their lives, and be authentic and genuine about it.

School-Wide Suggestions

  1. Invite a trans outreach organization to come and present to your staff to educate them about the issues trans students face and how you can accommodate them.
  2. Include gender identity in the categories protected by your school’s anti-harassment policies. Then make sure you enforce those policies when trans students report harassment. For more information on developing comprehensive harassment policies, check out Project Include—while their guide is focused on the tech industryexternal link, opens in a new tab, many of the key points it brings up for a successful anti-harassment policy are relevant anywhere.
  3. Provide a clear mechanism for all students to report harassment and assault, including anonymously, and maintain transparency so students and parents know what happens to these reports. Who collects them? How are they handled? Who can see them? Can students file a report without triggering⁠ an alert to their parents? Can students appoint a fellow student, staff member, teacher, or parent as advocate? How do you conduct investigations into allegations of misconduct? What are the penalties for violations of your school’s anti-harassment policy? What happens if a teacher or staff member is the culprit?
  4. Have a protocol in place for students who wish to change the name and gender on their school information, and make it as simple as possible, without requiring students to obtain a court-ordered name and/or gender change. If students do change their names and pronouns and indicate that they would like all school personnel to refer to them with their new names and pronouns, inform staff in a school-wide memo and make it clear that “deadnaming” (use of the student’s prior name) and misgendering with the incorrect pronouns are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Change all of your school records to reflect your student’s identity and don’t release information about the student’s prior name unless it’s necessary and directly relevant (e.g. if transcripts are requested under the wrong name).
  5. If your school has uniforms, design the dress code so that students can select from a pre-set number of clothes that they can mix and match, rather than making the rule be “girls must wear skirts, boys must wear pants.” If students don’t wear uniforms, make your dress code gender neutral so that it encompasses all forms of gender expression, focusing on nongendered basic standards of behavior (e.g… don’t show your genitals, or skirts, dresses, and pants need to fall below the knee) rather than what people wear. This isn’t just helpful for trans students, but for anyone who feels more comfortable in some clothes than others.
  6. Allow/encourage students to form Gay/Straight Alliances (GSAs) or Queer/Straight alliances (QSAs) to help bolster activism and awareness of LGBTQ⁠ issues on your campus. Students should also be supported in forming closed LGBTQIA+ student groups that aren’t open to cis and/or straight people so they have a space to talk about issues among their peers. Consider providing funding so these groups can afford to bring speakers and mentors into their meetings or events they host for the school as a whole.

In the Classroom

  1. Each trans student is going to be at their own unique place in terms of coming out. Therefore, do not out them to someone (including their parent) unless they give you permission to do so and/or you’re certain the person in question already knows.
  2. Address the student by their name and use the right pronouns, even if they do not match the information on the attendance sheets or other school documents. If the information on your paperwork is incorrect, ask the student if they’d like support with changing it.
  3. If you are planning on having a substitute teacher and you have a trans student on your roster whose name does not match the name on the records, make a note of it so the substitute does not call them by the incorrect name in front of the class.
  4. Whenever possible, avoid organizing students by gender. A student who is transitioning may not wish to out themselves by lining up in the “wrong” line. Try using obviously visible characteristics such as hair color or height.
  5. Experiment with or discuss gender-neutral pronouns in your classroom.
  6. Include discussions of gender stereotypes in your curriculum. You can find age-appropriate materials for doing so in the “Resources” section.
  7. Consider adding transgender fiction and media to your curriculum, when age-appropriate and relevant.
  8. If you see a student being harassed for their gender identity by their peers or adult staff, intervene.
  9. Most importantly, create open lines of communication⁠ between yourself and your students.  Having an adult who they feel they can talk to and who will help them advocate for their rights if need arises is crucial to trans students remaining in school.

The Bathroom Issue

When creating widespread policies regarding trans individuals, a common point of contention is the bathroom. Men go in one space and women go in another, and the implication is that if someone is in the “wrong” bathroom, they are there to cause harm. This way of thinking causes difficulties for trans individuals because they may not present the “correct” appearance for the bathroom they choose, or because transphobic individuals who discriminate against transgender people refuse to recognize their gender. This causes them to be read as intruders and therefore characterized as anything from odd to dangerous. This kind of behavior tends to target trans women more than people of other genders, due to transmisogyny—hatred of trans women—and the fact that some trans women struggle to “pass,” if they may have features or a gender presentation that aren’t considered feminine enough. 

If someone wants to commit an assault, a sign on a bathroom door is not going to stop them. It’s foolish to make the lives of trans students difficult (or worse, stigmatize them) in the name of a hypothetical fear. Trans people experience everything from stares, confrontations with other individuals and security guards, and physical assault.  All because they, like every other human on the planet, need to use the bathroom.

Suggestions for Safe Bathrooms and Changing Rooms

  1. A policy that allows trans students to use the facilities in which they feel the most comfortable.
  2. If a student is not comfortable changing for P.E. in either the male or female locker rooms, allow them use of a separate facility, such as the nurse’s office.
  3. Convert one or more school bathrooms into gender-neutral bathrooms.
  4. Convert all single-stall restrooms to be gender-neutral.
  5. Make sure disabled trans students have access to accessible bathrooms when considering any conversion or reclassification schemes.
  6. Remember that not all trans students are out, and creating a neutral policy will allow those students to use the facilities safest for them without attracting undue attention.

What to do if Something Goes Wrong

  1. If a trans student comes to you with reports of harassment or discrimination, listen to them and investigate according to school protocol.
  2. Do not dismiss a trans student who complains as trying to “cause trouble.”
  3. Do not assume (or tell the student) that they were “asking” to be harassed by being trans or otherwise gender nonconforming. School should be a place where a student can express their identity without fear of being attacked for it.
  4. If you are a teacher and a student (or their friends) conveys to you that they have been or are being harassed but are afraid to report it due to fear of retaliation, speak with that student about their fears. You may be able to find a way for them to get the support they need with a minimal chance of it coming back to bite them.
  5. Many administrators feel it is their duty or are required to inform parents if their child has been the victim of harassment. In some cases, if the parent(s) are aware of their child’s identity and supportive of them, notification may be beneficial.  However, some students may not have revealed the fact that they are trans to their parents and do not wish to be outed. We recommend that schools adopt a policy of asking a student whether they wish for their parents to be notified of the incident.

Resources

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