Supporting Transgender Students: Understanding Gender Identity and Reshaping School Culture

Teacher, activist, and novelist Myers (Revolutionary) explores why it’s so crucial to support transgender students and how to accomplish this. Myers, who is transgender, draws from his own experience transitioning while at Phillips Exeter Academy in the 1990s (he was the first openly transgender student there), as well as attending Harvard in the early 2000s and later teaching at Exeter. He begins with a discussion of the meaning of gender, then explains how to conduct a gender audit, in which institutions examine all the instances where they mention gender (for instance, in rules, policies, and signage). Myers also explores how gender issues play out in classrooms, in bathrooms, on sports teams, and in dormitories and what these various contexts necessitate in terms of support. He considers multiple aspects of single-gender institutions and ends with thoughts on the need for ongoing work in inclusion. Each chapter provides overviews, examples, and action steps. This is a thoughtful and effective work; weaving in his personal story, Myers offers concrete examples of the experiences of many transgender students, and guidance for improving the situation of transgender students through deeper understanding.