An estimated 1.4 million transgender people living in the U.S. are under serious threat of erasure and, for that matter, extinction. Transgender people, who have only recently been afforded some level of material, social, and economic gains, even under policies that face constant scrutiny, are once more confronted with not being considered full members of society (if they ever were). This policy brief examines the impact of the current administration's plans to turn the clock back on transgender people.
“When you are born in a world you that you don’t fit in; it because you were born to help create a new one.”
When people ask me why work on gender identity matters now, my response is why doesn’t this work matter more? Though this work has mattered since the beginning of time, gender identity work in pre-12 schools has taken on different undertones in last eight or so years, and gained more traction in the last few years (Blackburn & McCready, 2013; Cammarota, 2007; Mayo, 2007; McCready, 2007; Miller, 2009, 2015; 2016a, b; Robinson, 2005; Savage & Harley, 2009). Now, in the bumpy wake of Trump’s election and with the imminent threat to repeal over 150 policies in support of transgender rights, the urgency to understand how to anchor gender identity work in schools has never been more pressing.1 Our youth—and adults --for that matter- are in danger of losing their lives; their lives. With an estimated 1.4-million transgender people living in the United States (Hoffman 2016, n.p.), transgender people are under serious threat of erasure, and for that matter, extinction. Transgender people, who have only recently been afforded some level of material, social, and economic gains, even under policies that face constant scrutiny, are once more confronted with not being considered a full member of society (as if we ever were). This Trump term will set the clock back and legitimate, legalize, foster, and condone structural gender-based (amongst others) discrimination and practices.