Unisex toilets, safe changing rooms, plus inclusive uniforms and sports teams are among the recommendations for schools, in the wake of research showing just how tough life is for trans youth. Auckland University’s Adolescent Health Research Group has worked with Rainbow Youth’s peer support group for gender variant youth, Star*, to come up with a list of ways to improve life for transgender young people. The work follows the results from the New Zealand Adolescent Health Survey, known as Youth’12, of more than 8,500 young people. Read the research paper here About four out of every 100 students surveyed said they were either transgender, or not sure of their gender. Around 40 percent of transgender students had significant symptoms of depression and nearly half had self-harmed in the previous 12 months. “Other findings showed that almost one in five transgender students had experienced bullying at school on a weekly basis – this was nearly five times higher than the proportion of students who were non-transgender,” says Dr Terryann Clark, the principal investigator for the Youth’12 study. The research also found that despite the significant challenges faced by many transgender students, nearly half work as volunteers in their communities. The key recommendations from the fact sheet are that: School changing rooms are safe environments. Sports teams allow for gender diversity. Formal written records reflect the gender identity of students. School uniforms/dress codes are inclusive of transgender students. Schools provide at least one unisex toilet to gender diverse students.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 30th July 2014 - 3:14pm