LGBTQ+ Pride Month @ Taft: LGBTQ+ Rights and More

The following resources explain up-to-date transgender people’s rights. While we work to strengthen and expand legal protections, there are steps you can take if you face discrimination today in every state and in almost every area of life. Each resource below includes how to file complaints of discrimination or mistreatment and how to find legal help.

You have the right to express your gender, and it is unlawful for your peers or teachers to harass or treat you differently because of your gender. No matter what sex you were assigned at birth, you have the right to cut your hair and wear your clothes in a way that matches your gender identity. If you have to wear a drape or tuxedo for your senior portrait, you have the right to wear whichever matches your gender identity. You have the right to be called by the gender pronouns that you specify. You also have the right to play on the sports team that matches your gender identity. You have the right to use the restroom and locker room that match your gender identity.

OCR enforces civil rights laws to protect all students from unlawful discrimination and harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age. This includes students who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, asexual, intersex, nonbinary, and individuals who identify their sexual orientation or gender identity in other ways (LGBTQI+).

Bullying, harassment, exclusion from school activities, and other forms of discrimination can interfere with LGBTQI+ students’ access to a safe and inclusive school environment. Federal law, however, requires schools to ensure that LGBTQI+ students and other students have equal access to all aspects of a school’s programs and activities.

Educating yourself is a critical first step in the coming-out process. Below is a list of helpful books for parents and LGBTQ individuals "learning their way" through change.

PROVIDING INFORMATION & SUPPORT TO LGBTQ YOUNG PEOPLE 24/7, ALL YEAR ROUND. Reach a counselor, explore a variety of topics in the Resource Center, and meet friends in TrevorSpace.

This guide provides tips, strategies and resources to LGBTQ youth, ages 14-21, who are exiting the youth justice system. Its purpose is to help young people take charge of their own decision making and build essential life skills. The guide provides short exercises to help youth set goals, navigate juvenile probation, find meaningful employment, succeed in school and practice self-care, self-discovery and self-advocacy.
The guide offers advice from young people who have navigated being part of the youth justice system as well as service providers who serve them. ​You can download the guidebook here.

Advocates for Youth has worked with LGBTQ young people for over three decades, including founding the first online space for LGBTQ youth to help and support one another. Now, we work with schools and youth serving professionals around the country to ensure LGBTQ youth are safe in schools; included in sex education lessons; and above all, celebrated for who they are.

Links to resources in the following areas: Political, Bisexual, Youth, Military, Transgender, Aging, Legal, and General resources. GLAAD is "the world’s largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization."

Since its founding in 2003, NCTE has been a powerful advocacy organization in Washington, DC. Learn about transgender people, and their issues and rights. Also includes several self-help guides.