Teacher

My experience as a queer non-binary person in school has not been easy. High school
in general is not easy, but being undeniably different doesn’t help.
Coming out as queer has been pretty positive; coming out as non-binary, on the
other hand, has been met with some difficulties. Firstly, the washroom situation
isn’t great. While we do technically have a non-gendered washroom, it can only be
accessed with a teacher’s master key. So, whenever I need to use the washroom, I
end up missing a fair amount of class time going back and forth from where the key
I have access to is located, to where the washroom is located.
Another issue I’ve found is with general visibility; assemblies tend to address the
school with “ladies and gentlemen,” and documents like the dress code are largely
separated based on gender. Security checks before dances are also divided in this
manner. It makes it uncomfortable for me, because I have to decide which category
to put myself in (although I’m fairly certain if I went in the boys’ line I would be
asked to move).
Finally, my pronouns have been met with some reluctance. While I have had some
great reactions, I’ve also had some not-so-great ones, like my drama teacher telling
me “if it’s not offensive, [he’s] not changing.”
If you work in a school and have an LGBTQ+ student, one of the best things you
can do is accept them. Support from teachers is huge. If a student asks you to use a
different name or different pronouns to refer to them, do it without grilling them
on their reasons. Make your classroom a safe space by shutting down offensive
language—not just homophobia or transphobia, but also sexism, racism, ableism,
etc. It will mean a lot to your students and make school better for everyone.
Dani, 17 (they/them)
Being LGBTQ+ makes high school a lot more
difficult, especially for trans kids. That’s the
big thing. There’s a lot more things we have
to be careful about, and being ourselves is not
always the safest option, especially in a place as
judgmental as high school. Puberty is happening,
and it’s hard enough already without having
dysphoria, or the overbearing “something is
wrong with my body,” feeling on top of it. I’m
lucky enough to attend a school with such a
strong, confident LGBTQ+ presence that there
isn’t a lot of blatant homo/transphobia because
people respect my identity. It definitely makes
things easier, but that doesn’t stop me from
having a lot of anxiety and stress about being
myself while at school. There is the whole
situation with my birth name being different,
there’s also washrooms I have to worry about,
change rooms, and there’s so many more things
that I need to worry about in order to feel
safe and comfortable in my body, and in my
environment. Sometimes my school work isn’t
my priority because of all the other things I have
to worry about. It’s the same for a lot of my trans
friends that are still in school. To help us, it’s not
that hard. Just respect our identities, do your
best to understand terminology, and use our
names and pronouns so we can
focus on learning.
Everett Montinola, age 17
Genderqueer/nonbinary
They/Them
Moscrop Secondary, Burnaby
November/December 2015 TEACHER 17