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.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a new rule that would allow federally funded shelters and temporary housing providers to discriminate based on gender.
Under the proposal, homeless shelters and other housing providers could bar transgender people from single-sex facilities that do not match their assigned sex at birth.
The rule removes all references to "gender" and "gender identity" from HUD regulations, replacing them with "sex," as defined by an executive order issued by President Donald Trump last year. The order states that federal agencies will recognize only a person's assigned sex at birth on government-issued documents and for purposes of accessing government services or housing options.
A Kansas judge has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its law banning minors from accessing non-surgical transition-related treatments such as hormones or puberty blockers.
On May 15, Judge Carl Folsom III of the State District Court in Douglas County granted a temporary injunction blocking the state from enforcing the law, finding that it likely violated parents' rights to make decisions about their children's health and wellbeing.
In his 117-page ruling, Folsom -- who was appointed by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly -- wrote that transgender children were likely to suffer "irreparable harm" if the ban on transition-related hormonal treatments remained in effect. He also cited testimony asserting that gender-affirming, non-surgical treatments for minors are safe, effective, and medically credible.
Colorado has approved a bill allowing survivors of conversion therapy to sue licensed providers regardless of when the therapy occurred.
The measure, sponsored by State Reps. Alex Valdez (D-Denver), an out gay man, and Karen McCormick (D-Hygiene), along with Sens. Lisa Cutter (D-Littleton) and Kyle Mullica (D-Northglenn), allows people subjected to sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts to sue licensed mental health professionals for damages. Entities that hired or supervised providers engaging in conversion therapy could also be sued.
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