The fight over trans students’ pronouns is about much more than names

By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | As a parent, it pains me to imagine my child going through something crucial that he did not feel safe or comfortable telling me about. Even in that sad situation, I’d want to know that he had a space where he felt he could be himself, including at school. I’d hope that those I trust with his education would also protect his emotional and mental health if he felt I would not. This is why I vehemently disagree with the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Anne Arundel County Public Schools on behalf of anonymous parents. The department is challenging a former policy that allowed students to be called by their preferred pronouns and names at school without notifying parents. Using those very important personal identifiers is part of a social transition, which advocates believe is an important step in the healthy development of trans and nonbinary people. The people who want to take that right away from these kids would deny them that development. They don’t want these children to be healthy in their true identities because they don’t want those identities to be true. However well-intended, it’s shortsighted and dangerous. “It means, ‘If you don’t have to see queer people or trans people or have them going by the names they want to go by, maybe we can edit them out of existence and make them really unpopular,’” said Ever Hanna, policy director for advocacy group Trans Maryland. The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website. The post The fight over trans students’ pronouns is about much more than names appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.