Assignment Question
The transgender community is growing in visibility. Transgender adolescents are becoming more represented in classrooms, meaning that educators will most likely work with the transgender community at some point in their career. In fact, the classroom may be one of the first spaces that a transgender person discusses and explores their identity with another human being. As an educator, you must be prepared to respond accordingly in your position of authority and trust. The rates of suicidality, depression, and homelessness are much higher among transgender individuals, which makes your role so very important for these marginalized and often misunderstood individuals. For this Discussion, imagine a scenario in which you have a student disclose they are transgender and request that you address them by their selected name Stacy: While speaking with her, you accidentally call her Steven. She states, “Um, remember, my name is Stacy. Steven is my dead name . . . ” You turn a slight shade of red as others in the class giggle and begin to consider your response very carefully Post a script of a potential affirmative response to Stacy as if you were speaking directly to her, referring to the Learning Resources to support your response.
