Transphobia

Thursday, December 16th, 2021 Transgender rights at Arcata High

Dylan Berman

Feature Editor

Over the past five years, the transgender rights movement has become more prominent, sparking discussion around the treatment of transgender people on all levels of society, including in schools.

Transgender individuals are people whose gender identity doesn’t align with the sex they were assigned at birth. There are many transgender students at Arcata High, making trans issues on campus an important discussion.

English teacher and Sexuality and Gender Acceptance (SAGA) club advisor Julie Angles expressed how the climate around transgender people at the school has become more accepting. “I’ve certainly seen a lot of changes over the course of 30 years... I think more students are feeling safer to share their pronouns and aren’t feeling as judged,” she said.

She discussed the name change of what used to be called the Gay Straight Alliance to the current name SAGA, as emblematic of a broader recognition and support for trans students.

Many current transgender students view the school as mostly accepting, backing up Angles view of the change in acceptance on campus.

“I’d say yeah [I’m treated] overwhelmingly well. Most things that people do, they don’t even really mean to, it’s just things that are made by lack of education like not asking for pronouns,” said transgender student Joshua Hurst, a junior at Six Rivers High School.

His experience at the school being a trans man is a positive one.

“Mostly, I feel very accepted by other students. If people find out or if I tell them, there’s just a really great response,” he continued.

He expressed that most teachers are supportive, however, he feels like certain teachers will avoid using he/him pronouns out of a discomfort with his transness.

Despite feeling generally accepted, Hurst recalled an experience freshman year when a teacher said “I can’t really trust people like you,” and refused to let him use the boys bathroom.

Hurst said that if teachers had students share their pronouns, then made sure to enforce the use of the correct pronouns, it could help trans students feel more accepted. Hurst is openly transgender, but there are also transgender students who keep their identity hidden at school.

Trans woman, Zoe Steele, who graduated from Arcata High last year, was closeted with her identity while she was a student.

“It was mainly because of other students, I felt like most people would probably be supportive, but there’s still a good amount of people who are gonna look at me weird in the halls and make fun of me,” Steele said.

She didn’t blame the administration or school policy for this, just the nature of being in an environment like high school.

“In a school setting where 1,000 people are packed into the same building, there are going to be bigots you see everyday...I don’t really know how [the school] could fix that,” she said.

Non binary junior, Mars Long, who has been out with their identity since freshman year, said they felt they experienced slightly worse treatment on the basis of their identity, mostly from other students.

Mars recalled freshman year when they first came out that the staff seemed averse to using they/ them pronouns, but over time, they got better about it.

“Discipline students that are disrespecting other students more,” Mars said, when asked what the school could do differently regarding transgender issues, saying that they feel some students face no repercussions for transphobic behavior. “I think if you compare [the school] to the rest of the US it’s better than most, but I don’t think it’s perfect,” said Vito De Marino, a sophomore and co-president of SAGA. “Some of the older tenured teachers are not quite accepting… most of them are not going to openly discriminate against a student because their job would be in danger if they did,” De Marino said.

He expressed the difficulty of reporting transphobia to the school.

“If you don’t want to come out as trans because you’re worried it’s going to get back to your parents...then how are you going to talk about that with the administration,” he said.

According to De Marino, a way to anonymously report transphobia or other forms of prejudice to the administration would make trans students feel safer coming forward with their experiences.

Most transgender students at Arcata High seem to have a generally positive experience, but still feel like things could be better. Angles expressed that the school still has progress to make.

“We’re probably not where we should be yet...I think the awareness is there, but we must do better.”

Dylan Berman/PEPPERBOX Two posters with slogans of tolerance and acceptance, one officially representing Arcata High, hang in the Arcata High French Classroom, room 101.