A transgender high school student in Indiana says she was humiliated, and has even considered transferring schools, after she was misgendered and her “dead name” was included in a list of candidates for Homecoming court.
Grace Grabner, a senior at Carroll High School in Fort Wayne, Ind., has identified as female for the past six years. But last week she was mortified after the district included her birth name on a list of Homecoming King candidates, which was distributed to her classmates, instead of on the list for Homecoming Queen.
“It was embarrassing and it took me back to middle school when that was the hardest time,” Grabner told Fort Wayne ANC affiliate WPTA. “It reminded me of everything that happened in middle school and how people treated me.”
Grabner says she has experienced, and in some instances, continues to experience, bullying and harassment due to her gender identity.
She hopes that Northwest Allen County Schools will take concrete steps to stop harassment and make transgender and gender-nonconforming students feel safer and more accepted.
A spokeswoman for Northwest Allen County Schools said the list of girls’ names and boys’ names were computer-generated based on the official names listed on transcripts.
They argue that because Grabner’s official transcript does not bear a name matching her gender identity she was “inadvertently” placed on the wrong list.
“We made a mistake on our end and we apologize profusely that this error happened where we inadvertently took one student who should have been on one list and put them on the opposite list. That was our responsibility and our fault, and we feel terrible about it,” spokeswoman Lizette Downey said in a statement.
The district released a follow-up statement, saying: “This was not a policy decision, a political statement, or purposeful insensitivity to any person or group, it was an oversight. We sincerely apologize for this mistake and will take steps to prevent similar issues from occurring again in the future.”
Over the chants of hundreds of protesters, Iowa Republicans passed a bill to eliminate the ability of transgender people to access public accommodations that align with their gender identity, as well as their ability to access credit, housing, and to obtain employment.
As the February 27 vote was taken, a spectator shouted, "Hope you're proud of yourself!" while another screamed, "Fascist scumbags, eat shit!"
The vote, which passed 33-15 along party lines, makes Iowa the first state in the United States to eliminate existing nondiscrimination protections for a previously protected group of citizens.
A newly introduced Republican bill in Texas seeks to criminalize anyone who identifies as transgender.
Introduced by State Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress), the bill would amend the Texas Penal Code to create a new form of fraud known as "gender identity fraud."
Under the bill, if a person makes a "false or misleading verbal or written statement" to a government entity or a private employer asserting that their gender is the opposite of the biological sex assigned to the person at birth, that person could be charged with a felony, could serve up to two years in prison, and be fined $10,000.
West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a bill that effectively erases the existence of transgender people from state law.
Surrounded by anti-trans advocates, Morrisey signed the "Riley Gaines Act" -- named after the former collegiate swimmer-turned-anti-LGBTQ activist -- into law.
The law defines the terms "man" and "woman" based on a person's biological anatomy at the time of birth in the state code.
For all legal purposes, the state will not recognize the gender of any person who identifies outside of the gender binary or identifies as a gender that does not align with their assigned sex at birth.
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