Transgender Day of Remembrance 2012

Today is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day to reflect on the violence and loss caused by anti-transgender fear, discrimination and hatred. We remember those lost, and re-commit ourselves to building a better world. For me and my GLSEN colleagues, the commitment to the safety and well-being of transgender students is core to our purpose of building true cultures of respect in K-12 schools. Sadly, it is also one of the most urgent and challenging elements of our current work. GLSEN's report, Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools – the first national report on transgender student experiences – found that a shocking 53% of transgender students had been physically harassed and 26% had been physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their gender expression. For adult transgender people, the threat is even greater: 264 transgender people were murdered in hate crimes worldwide in the past year. The price of difference, of not conforming to gender norms, is far too high. Changing this dire reality means building respect for difference, and for transgender and gender nonconforming people specifically, from the ground up. Earlier this year, we published Ready, Set, Respect! GLSEN's Elementary School Toolkit to provide the tools for elementary educators to better understand how gender roles and expectations can contribute to a hostile school climate. Released in partnership with the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Ready, Set, Respect! provides K-5 teachers with developmentally appropriate, standards-aligned lesson plans on bias-based bullying, gender roles and the full measure of respect. Students are also leading the way on this critical issue. Today, GLSEN is partnering with Gay-Straight Alliances and student leaders across the country to enlist broader support for transgender students among their peers with a special pledge. It’s a message for all of us: I pledge to support transgender and gender nonconforming youth by making a commitment to:

• Not use gender-biased language or transphobic slurs.
• Not assume anyone's gender identity and ask respectfully how a person identifies.
• Respect the diversity of all gender identities and expressions.

You may not currently be in school or work in a school, but these are certainly steps we can all take, and I encourage you to take the pledge here as well. Please check out our action page to find other ways to get involved and to learn about other GLSEN resources designed to create safer, more affirming schools for transgender youth, like our Model District Policy on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Youth (pdf) created in partnership with the National Center for Transgender Equality. Schools must be safe spaces for EVERY child. Difference must be valued in our schools and in our society. And the scourge of violence perpetrated against transgender people of all ages must become a thing of the past. Thank you for committing to take a critical step forward on this day of remembrance, and for your continued support of our work.