By Taqari Rashon Patterson

Imagine walking across the stage at your graduation, your parents smiling in the audience with their sense of pride. You hear the next person walking after you, but this person refused to wear the traditional male gown and was told that they wouldn’t be able to go the ceremony if they didn’t wear the gown that was the color of their assigned sex at birth. So they are forced to dress in the gown that doesn’t match their gender identity. Graduation marks a stepping stone in our lives, it means we are leaving high school and entering the world. Graduations can, however, be extra difficult for those that are Trans or gender non-conforming. It can be difficult to have to dress by gender. In our society we love to gender everything regardless of it having the ability to be worn by anyone. Stigma and fear usually sprouts out of lack education and prejudice. I propose that BPS works to make all schools have one gown that all students can wear at graduation instead of having two different gowns. By making gowns the same for all students (gender neutral), no one feels left or excluded from going to graduation. Creating gendered gowns leaves out a lot of identities that aren’t male and female, specifically trans and gender nonconforming.

I interviewed Jason Wheeler, a consultant with Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), an organization that advocates for the LGBTQ community in schools.

Taqari: What does it mean to have a safe space for those who are gender nonconforming?

Jason: I think there’s a lot that goes into creating a safe space for those who are transgender or gender non-conforming. One is that the educators and administrators are knowledgeable about what Trans and gender nonconforming identities mean, that they have some kind of knowledge of the identities that some people hold and how to engage with them in really meaningful ways. Knowing things like how to use pronouns, knowing how to avoid all the little micro aggressions that happen every day to a young person. It’s about creating a culture of inclusion within a school.

Taqari: Should there be an LGBTQ-specific competency training for BPS staff and administrators or should they tie it in together with existing training?

Jason: I think they should very intentionally tie in together.

The advocate in me always roots for a spotlight or a dedicated training specific to LGBTQ identities. But the professional in me says that we should not be doing any trainings in the district that don’t include LGBTQ students in some meaningful way because there isn’t any community within BPS that LGBTQ students aren’t a part of. Whether it’s general cultural competency, physical education training or healthcare or writing – all of those things should include some component in regards to LGBTQ identities because our schools should serve as both windows and mirrors for young people. They should serve as windows that every young person can look through and see identities that are different from them and learn about those identities. But they should also serve as mirrors, where young people can see themselves reflected in every aspect of the school.

Taqari: What are some of the positive effects that you see from schools that have a space for discussing issues that revolve around gender non-conforming and trans people?

Jason: How much time do you have? I could talk about the positive stuff forever.

I’m really excited about the fact that there have been incredible strides in schools as it relates to thinking through gender as a whole. For instance, I think many schools have moved in the direction of creating gender neutral restrooms or locker rooms for students, or at least the availability of. In some schools there are multi-stall gender neutral restrooms. They’ve taken a traditionally gendered restroom and turned it into a gender neutral space which is great.  So things like that are happening. I think people are recognizing the need to eliminate some of the gendered practices in school. We’re are no longer seeing classes line up by boys and girls in the elementary schools. We’re not seeing them go to the bathroom in groups because that’s how you police the bathroom: you have a group of children standing outside of the bathroom and they’re all watching who goes in which bathroom. At the high school level, there are so many high schools that have eliminated things like gendered graduation gowns. There are classes that have implemented, as part of their introductions at the beginning of the year, the sharing of names and pronouns right off the bat. I think we’re seeing current events classes that are really talking about gender in meaningful ways. I think teachers are more comfortable having those conversations.