transgender

In November, a high school student wearing a skirt was set on fire on an Oakland, CA city bus. Sasha Fleischman identifies as agender and prefers to go by the pronoun “they.” In the weeks after the hate attack, many conversations ensued about hate and acceptance alongside dialogue about the way we talk about gender. Here, Mazique Bianco explores gender terms directly, pointing to the empathy and compassion in each of us. By Mazique Bianco At a sun-drenched table at a cafe in Oakland, I listen to two people next to me  discussing a hurt they have experienced. I’ve joined their table as a stranger in the packed cafe. I feel an affinity with them. One of the two friends gets up and the person next to me meets my eye. I ask them if they are going through something difficult, and their face breaks open into more softness.

Amnesty International activists march in Paris' annual Gay Pride parade

  Despite steady growth in bullying research since the 1970s, the subject of gender and sexuality in relationship to bullying has largely been ignored. Yet this topic must be examined in order to make schools safer and more inclusive for all students.   The following are excerpts from the Prevention of Bullying in Schools, Colleges, and Universities Report conducted by The American Education Research Association on latest gender-related bullying research and how we can stop it.   Gendered harassment is any unwanted behavior that enforces traditional, heterosexual gender norms. It is related to, and can overlap with, bullying. Forms of gendered harassment include sexual harassment; homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic harassment; and harassment for gender-nonconformity (Meyer, 2008, 2009).   State of Knowledge  

From Washington Blade: Transgender Remembrance Day was observed at the Metropolitan Community Church of D.C. on Tuesday. (Photo by Michael Key) They held candlelit vigils and film screenings. They read the names of victims and marched in the streets. Across the country last week, groups of people came together to remember the victims of anti-transgender violence, whether that was in small gatherings like in Winona, MN or in formal discussions with staff members from the White House. Transgender Remembrance Day is recognized around the world as a day when victims can speak out and others can stand up to the violence that continues to plague this community. The day was created in honor of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was murdered in Allston, MA, in 1998. Allston and other Boston neighborhoods remembered Hester last week in a series of events. Read more about the effort spearheaded by local churches to continue the conversation about anti-transgender violence in Massachusetts.