Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
FREEDOM TO LEARN
Rally: Trans community celebrates day of joy, calls for safe, equal schools for youth
Jesse is the mother of a 7-year-old transgender child from northeastern Pennsylvania.
On Wednesday, she traveled from her home, her kids in tow, to lend her voice and support to the Trans Day of Visibility, and to call for safe and equal public schools for all children, but in particular, transgender children.
Jesse said she lives in a region that is not welcoming to her family or her daughter, and for that reason, she declined to provide her last name (and hometown) out of fear for her family’s safety. She conceded, however, to her daughter Ella’s wishes to be allowed to address the gathering in the East Wing of the Capitol.
“My daughter, my sevenyear-old who searches for signs of acceptance everywhere we go, wants to be visible because she knows what it feels like to find light in darkness,” Jess said at the podium, her voice at times quivering with apprehension. “She wants to be a light for others, a light that doesn’t have to hide so others don’t have to hide either.”
Jess said she wants to ensure that Ella, a second grader, is safe and feels welcome at school. In fact, she and other advocates said, transgender and pan-sexual children increasingly feel unwelcome and unsafe at school, and their rights are increasingly under threat.
“We live in a very red part of the state where pride flags are scare and opinions are loud,” Jess said. “Teachers and principals are allies but mostly behind closed doors, never at board meetings “
That was the overarching message shared by members of the trans community, allies, advocates and families who spoke at the event: amid an increasingly hostile pushback on trans rights from conservative lawmakers they called upon the Legislature to support and ratify policy changes that will ensure the safe and equal education of all students, in particular transgender students.
Advocates and members of the trans community called on the Legislature to back components of a so-called “Safe and Equal Schools” legislative initiative that includes a number of proposals currently in the House Education Committee,
including
HB1997 which would establish clear anti-discrimination policies across public schools, aiming to protect students from harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression.
HB1998 which calls for an inclusive school curriculum that represents diverse identities, including LGBTQ+ individuals;
HB1999 addresses bullying and support for marginalized students, emphasizing policies that respect the identities and privacy of trans and non-binary students.
HB2024 addresses bathroom policies and participation in school sports by trans students. The measure calls
“They deserve a supportive, learning environment that allows them to grow and develop into the best possible version of themselves. This is about freedom.” —Chester County Democrat Rep. Paul Takac, a parent of a transgender child
for inclusivity through universal design in new construction and renovations, ensuring access to facilities for all students.
“All of our kids deserve to learn in safe and equal schools, where their focus can be on their studies, their extracurriculars, and their friends — not on the bullying, discrimination, or book bans that are currently rampant in too many Pennsylvania school districts,” said Daye Pope, director of civic engagement at the T.A.K.E Resource Center.
There are currently several proposed measures in the Legislature aimed at restricting, even barring, rights for transgender students. Among them, the measures would restrict curriculum, books and materials that could be taught and used in schools; restrict what teachers could or could not talk about in schools; and restrict and bar transgender girls from competing in school sports.
Other measures would restrict gender affirming care. There are some 479 anti-transgender bills under consideration across the U.S., according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The organization is tracking three bills in Pennsylvania.
The event was attended by a number of the members of the House LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, including Representatives Jessica Benham, Danilo Burgos, Malcolm Kenyatta, Patty Kim and Ismail Smith, Wade-El, among others.
Chester County Democrat Rep. Paul Takac, a parent of a transgender child, laid out his proposed measure that would establish anti-bullying protections to include transgender and non-binary
students and set best practices for supporting students while respecting their privacy, including the use of preferred pronouns.
“They deserve a supportive, learning environment that allows them to grow and develop into the best possible version of themselves,” Takac said. “This is about freedom.”
For Taylor James, president of Triversity Pride Center in Milford, it was the fifth trip to the capital to meet with lawmakers and urge passage of supportive legislation. James said the past year has been the worst in recent history with regards to passage of anti-LGBTQ+ laws or their proposal.
“Today is all about standing up for safe and equal schooling for LGBTQ+ and trans students and to help protect trans kids in schools and in the community,” James said. “Right now we are seeing a lot of horrible attacks on our livelihood as LGBTQ+ community especially focusing on the trans community. They are really coming for the youth right now. We need to stand up against that as much as we can. We need to fight for education, inclusivity representation.”
James, like most other advocates present, urged lawmakers to pass the Fairness Act, which would broaden
protections for all Pennsylvanians against discrimination because of “race, color, religious creed, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age or national origin.
At 18, Aspen Bradley, who is transgender and identifies by the they/them pronoun, said schools can feel like unsafe, unwelcoming environments for many transgender youth.
“Inside of schools currently it is very hard when there is no visibility and no support from the state to keep us safe and accepted,” Bradley said. “It’s time for lawmakers to look at the youth around them support the bills package we are proposing.”
Bradley’s mom, Shona McGee, said she would continue to advocate for safe, equal schools for transgender children.
“There’s a lot of issues surrounding their safety, their validity as humans. Their identity as people in these schools which makes it not safe for them,” she said.
Like other advocates in attendance, McGee noted the troubling high rate of suicide among transgender youth. She noted that Lancaster County alone has seen five suicides in recent months among transgender youth.
“Half of them came from safe, supporting families,”
McGee said. “It’s due to the climate and our state right now surrounding transgender issues. I don’t want to see that...to have to bury your child is unforgivable. I want to make sure every child has an equal chance at survival and being the person they are meant to be.”
Ashleigh Strange, the executive director of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Commission on LGBTQ Affairs, called the Trans Day of Visibility an opportunity for all transgender people to be seen and heard.
“We are here to protect trans kids in school and we are here to celebrate trans joy,” Strange said. “There will be other times we will focus on issues and the vitriol, the hate, but today is about celebrating trans joy and protecting trans kids.”
Pope noted the increasing number of threats of violence across the state targeting transgender kids, particularly in connection to efforts to broaden rights by school boards.
“There are extremists in Pennsylvania who are invested in trying to censor books and discriminate against LGBTQ kids who are spreading misinformation and that is making people fear their classmates and neighbors who just want to live their lives, not hurt anyone,” Pope said. “We have to turn down the temperature and make it clear that threats of violence are never acceptable, and that all of our kids deserve to be and feel safe at school.”
When she spoke, 7-year old Ella, laid out her vision for her future.
“When I grow up, I want to be a teacher so my students don’t have to hide who they are,” she said. “When I grow up I want to be an activist so I can help people who need help the most. When I grow up I want to be a mom so my kids will know I love them for who they are.”