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.”
In another swipe at the transgender community, the national monument honoring what is widely seen as the seminal event of the modern LGBTQ rights movement has erased all mention of transgender and queer people.
Each June, the Stonewall National Monument in New York City typically decorates the fence surrounding Christopher Park -- the small park adjacent to the historic Stonewall Inn and part of the official monument -- with various Pride flags.
In past years, the display has featured a mix of flags -- the familiar six-stripe rainbow Pride flag, the blue, pink, and white transgender Pride flag, and the "Progress" flag, which adds stripes for Black and brown communities and a chevron design incorporating transgender and intersex Pride colors.
An estimated 100 transgender inmates are missing and presumed dead after an Israeli airstrike flattened part of Iran’s Evin Prison late last month.
Israeli officials described the June 23 strike as "symbolic," according to The New York Times. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called it retaliation for Iranian missile attacks on civilian targets and framed it as a form of liberation for Iran's political prisoners.
Critics say Israel showed total disregard for the lives and safety of prisoners, launching the strike at noon on a workday when the prison was full of visitors, lawyers, and medical staff.
Recently released data from a national survey of transgender and nonbinary individuals reveals that detransitioning is not as common as opponents of transgender rights assert, and that the overwhelming reason for detransitioning is rooted in social stigma and lack of support.
Recently released data from a national survey of transgender and nonbinary individuals finds that detransitioning is far less common than anti-trans activists claim. When it does happen, it’s largely due to external pressures like stigma and lack of support, not regret over transitioning.
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