Students Across Country Recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance

NEW YORK – Students across the country are recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance today by holding events to encourage discussions about the need to protect students against bullying and harassment based on gender identity and expression. Events range from candle light vigils to school assemblies to transgender-inclusive school trainings.

GLSEN, or the Gay, Lesbian & in recognizing Transgender Day of Remembrance, an international day of action that brings awareness to the problem of anti-transgender violence.

"Bullying and harassment because of gender expression unfortunately is a common part of school life,” said GLSEN Founder and Executive Director Kevin Jennings. “We also know from GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey that transgender students are even more vulnerable than their lesbian, gay and bisexual classmates and are more often the victims of physical attacks. Transgender Day of Remembrance offers an opportunity to bring attention to the need to ensure safe schools for all students, regardless of gender identity/expression."

More than nine out of 10 transgender students (93 percent) reported verbal harassment based on their sexual orientation, gender or gender identity/expression in GLSEN’s 2005 National School Climate Survey. More than half (54 percent) reported physical harassment based on at least one of the characteristics and one in three (33 percent) reported assault.

Gender expression is also one of the most frequent reasons all students are harassed in schools. In From Teasing To Torment: School Climate in America, a Harris Interactive report commissioned by GLSEN, gender expression is the third most common reason students are harassed in school, with 28% of students across the county reporting it as a reason students are very often harassed. Appearance (39%) followed by actual or perceived sexual orientation (33%) were the top two reasons cited for frequent harassment according to the national study.

For more information about the Transgender Day of Remembrance or any other Days of Action, please visit, www.dayofsilence.org/tdr/.

About GLSEN
GLSEN, or the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. For more information on GLSEN’s educational resources, public policy agenda, student organizing programs, research, public education or development initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.