This year, state legislatures across the country introduced 490 bills that specifically target transgender people, according to Trans Legislation Tracker. The reach of what these bills cover is extensive, from restricting gender-affirming care to banning the education of LGBTQ+ content in school.
At MHS students have been able to find safe spaces where they can be more open and feel accepted, like the True Colors club, said senior Elle Leabres, who uses the pronoun they.
“At home, I didn’t really have people to talk to or safe spaces in my personal life,” Leabres said. So, after finding such a freeing area, I felt like I could just be me.”
While the California legislature has not introduced such bills, people can’t help but worry that it’s only a matter of time, said junior Sneha Nair, who uses the pronoun they.
“I’m really grateful that California has been not allowing that to happen,” Nair said. “But when you search online, and you look at those maps where it’s colored in all the states that have certain laws passed, it’s terrifying. … It’s just a ticking time bomb until someone else comes around and decides to pass that same bill that’s in other states. It’s disheartening and it makes you feel nervous.”
Despite the MHS campus being a very accepting space, there are still incidents where people are blatantly ignorant, Leabres said. During CLOG rush, someone purposely dropped slips of paper by the True Colors table, including a note with a slur targeting club members, they said. Others are less blatantly ignorant but will still use Leabres’ deadname, which is a person’s birth name they no longer use after their transition, or use the wrong pronouns, they added.
People often misgender Nair, too, they said. Trans people shouldn’t have to make the first step; it should just be the norm to ask for pronouns, Nair added.
“I was just severely disappointed by the amount of people on campus who would actually ask for pronouns, teachers included,” Nair said. “Only one or two out of all my teachers even bothered to ask for us to present our pronouns as well as our name, … Even though nothing technically bad is happening to a lot the LGBTQ+ students on campus, it’s upsetting that a lot of people don’t have the courage to correct someone when they’re misgendering them or saying the wrong name.”
Senior Hannah Lam said that only one of their teachers has asked them for their pronouns. But ultimately, that doesn’t bother Lam as they’re just trying to get their education and leave school, they said.
“I wish people would, as a baseline, instead of just ‘What’s your name? How old are you?’ added a pronouns question,” Nair said. “I also understand that a lot of people may feel nervous because it could be an uncomfortable question for some. But, just based on personal experience, I would never be offended if someone asked me to explain any of my identity. It feels more hurtful that they’re not even asking.”
Lam said that they wished there was more general education about trans identity at MHS. They aren’t too worried about California passing any laws because they believe California understands how important it is not to ignore trans identities, Lam said.
“I feel very disappointed in our country that likes to promote itself on freedom,” Leabres said. “There are about 200 or 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills going around. … Why is the right coming to this conclusion that queer people are bad? It’s really just a scapegoat for them. I think the whole proposition to ban queer influence in education is just ignorant and small-minded.”