Each week our Supportive Schools team at the Campaign for Southern Equality fields messages from parents and students about issues that queer youth are experiencing at school. We aim to provide resources, tools, and care in the face of hardship. At the same time, we also strive to address macro, systems-level marginalization by organizing against anti-LGBTQ legislation and working with state policymakers on tangible changes that create safer school climates.
This year, after years of advocacy, we secured a major victory for LGBTQ students in North Carolina when the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction agreed to make changes to PowerSchool, the state’s student information system. For years, students were required to be listed by their legal name – but that often resulted in the misgendering or ‘deadnaming’ of transgender students and outed trans students, perhaps before they were ready to share with classmates. We coordinated hundreds of teachers, parents, and students in sending a letter to the state requesting a change, and at last, this year North Carolina agreed to default to students’ preferred name in the system.
This may feel like a small change – but it will be a major step toward making school safer and more inclusive for transgender students. Those are the kinds of systems-level changes that CSE is working toward – and with your help, we can keep up the momentum in 2022. Can you kick in an end-of-year donation? Your gift will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, by a generous donor. Just click here to give $30, $70, or whatever you can.
It was a really challenging year for North Carolina students, who grappled with a transition back to in-person learning amid the uncertainty of the pandemic. And transgender students received so many negative messages about their dignity as a result of a wave of anti-transgender student bills that became law in more than 10 states.
The PowerSchool development was a welcome bright spot – and it couldn’t have happened without support from donors like you to CSE. Your support helps us keep up our steady organizing to ensure that young people know that their safety, privacy, and identity are valued.
Help us keep it up in 2022 with your donation of $30, $70, or whatever you’re able to give.
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