Educators fear impact of Trump's transgender crackdown on students, schools

Boston Globe

10-03-2025

The Beverly school district acknowledges and respects the identities of their transgender students, including using their chosen names in class. And are even designating some bathrooms as gender-neutral.
But Collins and other educators worry such efforts could be threatened under President Trump, who has railed against diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools and universities. Trump has declared there are
Some school districts, wary of risking the president's ire or cuts to their budgets, could walk back public support for transgender students, educators, and LGBTQ, advocates said. They worry state and school policies that protect the rights of transgender students could soon be threatened.
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'I am afraid for the safety of my individual students,' said Collins, who has been a counselor since 2019. He's confident Beverly won't buckle under any pressure, but is concerned for students elsewhere. 'I am very afraid of what's going to happen if the supports that still do exist, are taken away.'
While it's unclear whether Trump has the authority to withhold federal funds from K-12 schools, his actions have sown uncertainty across Massachusetts, said Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, an organization representing school boards across the state.
'We don't know what Trump might do. And this is very uncharted territory,' Koocher said.
Massachusetts
and schools are expected to
respect a student's sincere assertion of that identity,
The law doesn't require schools to notify parents if their child seeks to be identified by a different name or pronouns that weren't assigned at birth.
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Some parents said Trump's actions are overdue, pointing to cases where New England schools kept parents in the dark when their children told their educators they wanted help transitioning or asked to be addressed by names or pronouns that weren't assigned at birth.
Trump's executive order instructs federal agencies to withhold funding from schools that recognize students' by their gender, name and pronouns not assigned at birth, as well as 'deliberately conceal' from a student's parents the child's wishes to use a different name or pronouns in school.
His order will 'restore parental rights, unbiased education, and healthy school policies for families,' Pam Ahern, co-director and president of Parental Rights Natick, said in a statement.
'Trump's executive order is a step toward removing indoctrination and restoring safe policies, parental rights, unbiased/fact-based learning, and accountability in public education,' Ahern said.
In Ludlow, parents of an 11-year-old who identified as 'genderqueer' and used nonbinary pronouns on campus,
Many state and local education officials argue they won't capitulate on the rights of transgender students.
Russell D. Johnston, acting commissioner for Massachusetts' education department, has reiterated that state law prohibits discrimination in public schools based on several factors, including
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Many school districts, including Boston, Lynn, New Bedford, Worcester, and Lowell, have publicly declared support for the LGBTQ community, including transgender students, since Trump took office.
Some administrators remain wary. New Bedford Superintendent Andrew B. O'Leary warned in a statement: 'I have no doubt that more divisive rhetoric and chaotic attempts to diminish school climates and target transgender and nonbinary students lies ahead.'
Vanessa Ford, a mother of a transgender teenager from the North Shore and a former teacher
Trump's orders are
measures meant to 'confuse, bully, and taunt people into submission,' Ford said.
The antitrans rhetoric from Trump and other elected leaders already has made life harder for transgender youth, a group that is already at higher risk for substance abuse and suicide, activists said.
In one Massachusetts community, a 12-year-old recently outed himself as transgender during a public meeting of his local school board. He asked for support; he feared reprisal, he said at the meeting. 'But I have chosen to be brave,' he told officials.
The boy and his mother agreed to be interviewed on the condition they not be identified, out of fear of harassment from people outside their community.
In the interview, the boy said he would tell Trump: 'What if you were in my shoes? That you're a 12-year-old kid, and I'm the president making these laws that are harming you ... I don't think he would like that.'
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Prior to Trump's election, there have been cases of teachers across the country getting fired and facing disciplinary action for supporting or perceiving to support LGBTQ students, mostly in red or purple states with so-called 'Don't Say Gay' laws in place or making their way through local legislatures. In Cobb County, Georgia, a teacher was fired in 2023 for reading a book about gender fluidity after the district received complaints from parents. In Ohio, a substitute teacher was fired in 2022 after handing out Pride bracelets to students.
Teachers who are LGBTQ themselves have also faced threats to their personal safety since LGBTQ education in schools and trans rights became political talking points, particularly after Trump's first term began in 2017, when it
In 2023, in Charleston, S.C., a trans teacher left his job and moved
because a
school board member allegedly threatened to show up to his house with a gun after the teacher came out to his class. That same year, a Florida teacher was fired from their job for using a gender-neutral honorific.
In Rhode Island, lawmakers are considering a bill this year that would categorize women by their
Officials in Connecticut
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Massachusetts hasn't seen the large-scale pushback against the LGBTQ community that has occurred in other states, like Florida, where the state Board of Education
'There's going to be students who are going to be impacted for the rest of their lives because of what's happening right now,' said Bob Bardwell, executive director of the Massachusetts School Counselors Association.
Allyssa Beird, a fifth-grade teacher in Middleborough, said educators must support their students, including transgender children, despite the pressure from Trump.
'I would hope that we would continually stand for human rights, even if it's challenging,' she said.
The Great Divide team explores educational inequality in Boston and statewide.
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Auzzy Byrdsell of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
John Hilliard can be reached at