Thirty-six states in the country, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, have adopted policies of inclusion that protect lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender students. The federal government, under Title IX, considers gender identity and gender expression protected classes. The Equal Access Act of 1984 applies to LBGT students, allowing them equal access to extracurricular activities, including sports participation and field trips, and nondiscriminatory access to bathrooms and locker rooms.
With a growing number of transgender children and adolescents in the public schools, teachers and administrators must address the best ways to provide safe spaces in classrooms and school activities. Todd works with school districts and personnel to promote understanding and expertise in this area. His teaching in UWRF's graduate program in School Psychology also prepares new professionals with the knowledge and skills to help transgender students succeed personally and academically as well as to aid their colleagues in understanding how best to support these students in their schools.
Todd provided some interesting facts about transgender youth:
- Most recognize by the age of 4 or 5 that there is disconnect between the gender they have been assigned and the gender with which they identify.
- The average age of trans-spectrum realization is 7.9 years of age.
- The average age of learning the words to communicate feelings about their gender identity was 15.5 years of age.
- 80% of transgender-identified adults knew they were "different" before leaving elementary school.
- 96% of transgender-identified adults knew they were transgender by the age of 18.
This data clearly indicates that public school teachers and administrators, as well as other students, need to know much more about transgender students than most do now.
Dr. Savage's talk evoked a number of questions from RFArea REA members. Everyone agreed that they had learned a good deal and appreciated Todd's insights.
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