Panel

She also discussed He She Ze and We’s impact on a broader scale, mentioning that she has presented in front of the Virginia General Assembly to advocate for the rights of transgender youth and share her child’s story.

“Isn’t that more of what we’re trying to do?” McKay said. “Basic respect, making people feel comfortable and welcome no matter how different they are from us. And if we’re all the same, it would be so boring, it would be so boring for all of us. But that is what we’re up against. Our families are struggling. Our kids are struggling in school.”

Rosenthal then introduced herself and began by reading an excerpt from her book, “Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City.”

The excerpt discussed Rosenthal’s time hosting workshops for transgender youth in Southwest Virginia. The excerpt later described the challenges and importance of discussing queer and transgender history. Many of the youth Rosenthal has worked with identified with some aspects of the stories they were exposed to.

“We had created a space in which young, queer trans people can act out not just the historical trans experience, but also the words and lived experiences of older trans people to inspire them to explore their own teenage, transgender lives,” Rosenthal read.

“This was a powerful demonstration of just how transgender history matters to young people today. Young queer people, young trans people, are able to see themselves in relation to that history in a way that allows them to bravely tackle the issues that they themselves face.”

The panel then opened up to previously submitted questions and questions from audience members. The first question was in regard to the importance of legislation and how it can protect transgender youth.

“Unfortunately, usually kids are doing okay with their level of acceptance,” McKay said. “They get it, if they would allow us to have representation in schools. It’s the parents and the messaging they’re sending to school with their kids. That is the problem.”

Hamilton followed with a comment on how representation matters within politics.

“We need affirmative policy,” she said. “We need policies where teachers and counselors do receive education and are given guidance on in-classroom best practices and how to support students. And in terms of curriculum development, developing a curriculum that is inclusive and educates all kids.”

Hamilton then asked her fellow panelists about the history of transgender medicine and the growing public fear regarding puberty blockers for youth. Rosenthal responded with her personal experience as a transgender woman who transitioned in her thirties and discussed the importance of hormone replacement therapy and validating medical care.

“We also have a history of prescribing hormones and puberty blockers with cis kids long before this became an issue,” Rosenthal said. “You may not be aware of this, but it has been in practice and medical ethicists and parents and everybody thought it was a fine idea that if a young boy was growing up and was too short, that they would prescribe a hormone to that kid to be taller because it’s more socially acceptable.”

Rosenthal discussed how the historical use of hormones and puberty blockers strongly correlated with typical societal gender norms, often prescribed to allow a child to conform to normative standards.

“It’s perfectly fine to do hormones and surgeries on kids to make them conform with our weird cultural ideas about the right way to be a boy, the right way to be a girl,” Rosenthal said. “But if a young, trans kid was to use these same tried and tested procedures to make their body not conform with the idea of girl or boy based on outside sex, then this is why we’re so scared.”

Later in the discussion, Hamilton answered a question regarding student and teacher rights in and out of the classroom. She emphasized the importance of freedom of expression and the panelists discussed the intricacies of teacher rights.

Hamilton cited the 1969 Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School

District case during the Vietnam War, in which the Supreme Court ruled that students were entitled to wear black armbands to protest the war because they were exercising their freedom of expression.

“Students don’t shed their right to free expression at the door,” Hamilton said. “So long as students’ expression does not unduly interfere with what is otherwise the educational mission of the school or the educational daily practice, then students have a constitutional right to engage in that expression.”

Since teachers are employees, Hamilton highlighted some of the complications regarding school policy, such as not being able to speak out against certain policies inside the classroom.

“They can do it when they’re speaking in the context of being a citizen as opposed to being a teacher because they’re required to teach whatever the curriculum is, whether it’s their favored curriculum or not,” she said. “So there are all sorts of things that limit teachers.”

McKay mentioned that many teachers fear losing their contractual benefits due to speaking out against school policy, and Rosenthal emphasized the importance of making pedagogical resources to create trans-affirming educational opportunities both inside and outside the classroom.

“I think it’d be great to be creative,” McKay said. “There’s so many states now that are limiting what teachers can say, but it’s still so important that we have that content in U.S. history classes or oral histories, social studies classes, and English. So I think it would be great for people to work on creating pedagogical resources to get that queer content in there in a way that feels safe for everyone.”

Watkins concluded the conversation by introducing upcoming GSWS events at the College. On Feb. 21, GSWS will be offering an event on “Performing Queerness in Singapore Beyond Illiberal Pragmatism and Cane” with a Zoom guest speaker Zihan Loo. Additionally, on Feb. 24, the “A Home for My Heart” event will address film screening around trans experiences in South Asia.