The right to education has often overlooked trans and gender-diverse children because of social and cultural biases. The LGBTQI community has higher than average dropout rates due to social exclusion and institutionalized discrimination. The report focuses on three needs for the right to education: availability, acceptability, and adaptability to be comprehensive and inclusive. Curriculum standards have excluded LGBTQI history and culture, and have had long-term effects, particularly with substandard sexual education materials and reproductive health information.
Only 1 in 4 trans students in the region graduate secondary education, largely due to lack of acceptance, harassment, and bullying. Unstable and unsafe family situations force many adolescents out of their homes at an early age and often are unable to continue with their education, instead, seeking employment for financial reasons. Family support and social structures are one of the main factors of continued education.
Difficulties in legally changing identity documents often result in misgendering and using the dead names (birth names that do not reflect the gender identity) of students, beginning at the institutional level. Trans students are often required to abide by the dress code of their assigned birth gender and are limited in gender expression. There are only a few countries in the Americas that have legal protections against discrimination and bullying, but there are even some that have prohibited comprehensive education of gender diversity and sexual health. In some Latin American countries that have eased the legal recognition of transgender individuals or the normalization of “social names,” there have been some successes in returning to education. More than 75% of surveyed trans students reported intimidation, verbal harassment, physical assault or sexual assault.
Affirmative action and specific trans and gender-diverse schools have been posited as a solution to affirm gender identity and combat the harassment, misgendering, and bullying that has resulted in dropout rates. Another solution is comprehensive and inclusive sex educational and reproductive health curriculums to educate students against negative stereotypes and misinformation. An additional change to the curriculum that has been proposed is including human rights and those of LGBTQI individuals to promote inclusion in human rights narratives and raise awareness of violations.
Further Reading:
Transgender schools in Latin America Offer a Fresh Chance
A Global School Climate Crisis: Insights on LGBTQ Students in Latin America
