Several outlets throughout August and September have focused their talking points on back-to-school tips, advice, and encouragement for students and families. For Teen Vogue, this meant chronicling the harrowing stories of transgender-identifying students who told their teachers and peers about their new gender identity.
Authored by a journalist with a master’s degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Arizona State University, Fortesa Latifi, the piece tells readers of the fears afflicting trans-identifying students leading up to each new school year.
Latifi posted to X (formerly Twitter) to invite “trans & nonbinary teens and young [people]” to reach out to her over email and asked, “[D]o you talk to your teacher ahead of time? [D]o you worry about bathroom access? [H]ow do you make your names/pronouns clear?”
Latifi’s article claims that back-to-school fears for LGBTQ+ students are “compounded” because they often wonder nervously, “Will their teachers use the correct pronouns? Will their peers be accepting? Will they be allowed to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity?”
The piece begins by telling readers about a 16-year-old girl who identifies as a transgender boy by the name of Daniel, and explains that her mom emails each new teacher before the year begins to inform them of her child’s gender.
“[D]uring the first week of school, Daniel tries to get a read on his teachers,” Latifi wrote. “‘You’re scouting around with your teacher, trying to see if they’re an ally or not,’ [she] says. ‘And it’s simple things, like whether or not they have a little pronoun box on the get-to-know-you papers, things like that.'”
Daniel also told Teen Vogue that summer vacation is a break from “transphobia” and when trans-identifying students go back to school “we have to deal with these transphobic and ignorant people.”
The second child utilized to make Latifi’s point in the article is another 16-year-old, but this time, it is a boy who identifies as a girl named Jackie. “Jackie feels the change brought on by the rise of anti-trans legislation and politicians using the trans community as a boogeyman,” Latifi wrote — suggesting that a 16-year-old would be able to articulate that concept on his own. “People feel like they have to choose one side or the other,” Jackie told the Teen Voge writer.
Latifi explains that one 17-year-old had her female name legally changed to a male name, and since undergoing hormone treatments “his voice is lower than it was before and his face is more masculine.”
“In other words, he is more himself,” Latifi added.
A 17-year-old Arizona student identified in the article as Elle feels greater confidence at school now that students have become more accepting. “She’s able to use the women’s restroom at school,” Latifi remarked, noting that there have been some “bumps in the road” specifically citing an incident from last year when “a church group came to her school district’s board meeting and pushed back against trans students being able to use their preferred locker room and bathroom.”
Just last month, the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, said “The Arizona Department of Education strongly advises that schools not initiate a policy that allows biological boys to use restrooms, locker rooms or shower facilities that are intended for girls.”
The debate concerning transgender restroom and locker room policies reached a boiling point when one Loudoun County, Virginia father shared that his daughter had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom by a boy in a skirt and found that school administrators covered up the incident.
Horne also said that he has been contacted by several parents who “are outraged by the idea that biological boys can use restrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities meant for girls, and they are considering removing their daughters from schools that allow this.”
The Superintendent added that the issue “will ultimately be decided by the United States Supreme Court,” and insisted that he is “defending the state law that prohibits biological boys from participating in girls’ sports and the basic legal argument for that action is similar to the one that addresses the use of bathrooms, locker rooms and shower areas.”
Several medical entities have also placed limitations on what procedures children with gender dysphoria can undergo after research has suggested that minors are in a “transitory phase.” There is also a lack of evidence to indicate that the gender-affirming model of care results in positive mental and physical health outcomes.
