Nonbinary educator reporting live...

After reading the policies from RIDE and PPSD, the Queering Our Schools article, and other classmates blogs, I would say that the policies are blankets that raise questions as to whether they have a strong impact on keeping transgender and nonbinary youth warm. 

At a first glance, the policies are very progressive, as they mandate schools to have recognize the genders students have if they differ from the one they were assigned at birth and not allow discrimination based on gender expression. It is quite sad but after a quick search, twenty two states do not have explicit student nondiscrimination policies based on sexual orientation and gender expression. So, at least Rhode Island has something. 

While the policies tackle surface level issues like bathroom protections and bullying as these are some of the major concerns with transgender and gender non-conforming youth, they seem to neglect the root causes of bullying and why these demographics are targeted in schools. 

What these policies do not account for is how entrenched binary gender identities are in our society and how it is structured. Unfortunately, no matter how progressive the policies are at protecting varying gender identities from the top looking down, because of the conditions of our schools from the bottom looking up, the lived experience of transgender and nonbinary youth can still be quite difficult no matter what. 

I think about my first grade classroom and how reluctant boys are from sitting with girls and vice versa (although boys are always way more dramatic about it if I'm being honest).  When the binary of genders is so obvious at such a young age, the conditions make it difficult for someone to even recognize their gender may differ. 

With my lived experience, I always knew I was different than "boys" as child but I never knew why. From fear of judgement or bullying, I felt like I had to fit in with the boys and couldn't immerse myself in what the girls were doing, even though I felt like on a social level they were more relatable and funny. However, this brought a lot of pain as the male circles eventually would ridicule me for my feminine traits.

While I grew up in Connecticut which has very similar guidelines to RIDE on gender discrimination policies, I think that my schools did not actively disrupt the binary gender structures like the Queering Our Youth article suggests. By creating classroom environments that champion empathy and inclusion, this could dismantle the ways that gender is viewed so that non cisgender youth can feel seen at an earlier age. 

Now that I feel much more comfortable with my gender identity and expression, I hope that living my authentic life can inspire students as well so that I could potentially be a champion for them, however they need!