Gavin Grimm has been making headlines since his fight to safely pee at school became the subject of national debate. But his situation is far from exceptional. According to a new research report on trans teenagers in America, published in the New York Times, one in every 137 teens identifies as transgender. Specifically, 149,750 Americans aged between 13 and 17 years old would identify as transgender when asked. That’s 149,750 Americans who are having their civil rights compromised by the Trump administration’s rolling back a key protection for trans youth in public schools.
“Current policy debates in several states have involved legislation that would impact transgender students,” said Dr. Jody L. Herman, one of six scholars who carried out the study. “Our estimates suggest that thousands of youth could be negatively impacted by laws that would limit their access to school facilities and undermine protections against discrimination.”
The study estimates that 0.6 percent of the U.S. population identifies as transgender. For teens aged 13 -17, that figure is slightly higher, at 0.7 percent. At the same time, it’s young people — both trans and cisgender — who understand trans rights. Unfortunately, these are not the people writing or rescinding vital protections.
“Young people overwhelmingly get it,” trans activist Janet Mock wrote in the Times yesterday. “It’s adults like those in the Trump administration who don’t realize the consequences of pitting young people against one another, which encourages some to be bullies and turns others into sinister objects.”
Janet went to high school in Hawaii, where about one in 100 teens aged 13 – 17 identify as transgender. But outrage over the rights rollback is hardly limited to the archipelago. Yesterday protests erupted across the nation to call on the administration to protect trans youth. All 149,750 — and growing — of them.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Image via Twitter