A senior said they “hate going to the bathroom at school.
A freshman “never goes into the bathroom when there’s someone else inside.”
While some Blue Valley students avoid the bathrooms due to their general disrepair, for transgender and genderqueer students, the experience can range from highly uncomfortable to outright dangerous.
“I think I technically could use any bathroom, but I would feel unsafe in the [men’s] bathroom,” the senior said. “I use the one assigned to me at birth. It’s hard because I think people view me as my real gender, and they feel uncomfortable with me there. I hate going to the bathroom.”
The freshman shared a similar sentiment but said the bathrooms they’re most comfortable with are those by the band room and flex theater.
“The gender neutral ones — I use those when they’re unlocked, but they’re often locked even when there’s nobody inside,” the freshman said.
This is not the only issue at BV that affects queer students. Almost every student has had a teacher or substitute mispronounce their name; for most this is a minor annoyance, however, for trans or nonbinary students, it serves as a reminder of how their true self is structurally denied.
“Synergy [calls me by my pre-transition name], and I find it incredibly frustrating,” the senior said. “On Canvas, though not on my transcript, I am able to put in the right pronouns, but I haven’t been able to input my real name.”
The freshman shared this frustration, adding that teachers misname them due to their rosters. They are uncomfortable with correcting teachers themselves, as it feels unsafe. They said their friends typically do this for them and that “there haven’t been any issues with teachers refusing.”
Both students also said Securly, the school’s AI-powered website blocker, has blocked queer-centric news sites such as LGBTQnation.com for alleged “sexual content.”
“[It’s a] direct form of homophobia,” the senior said. “It is sometimes the safest way for students to research their community.”
Furthermore, both students highlighted a lack of content relating to queerness within BV’s curriculum.
“The only time I remember was in APUSH,” the senior said. “Even then, the only real mention was Stonewall and a sentence here or there.”
The senior said while in middle school outside of the BV district, they were taught about late gay rights activist Marsha P. Johnson, a transgender woman who was critical in the Stonewall Uprising before her alleged murder.
“I can’t think of a single book we’ve read [within ELA classes] where there’s been a queer character or author,” the freshman said. “In the library, there’s queer books, and I’d say that’s something that I really appreciate.”
According to the freshman, despite Blue Valley’s shortcomings, the schools are doing much better than their previous private Catholic school.
“My world becomes very small because I surround myself with amazing people who support me for who I am,” the senior said. “It is painful to peek outside my friend groups and at the world only to see hate and endlessly changing discriminatory policies. It is scary to be out as a transgender person in America right now. We exist in every corner of the world, and no [policy] will make us disappear. LGBTQ+ rights are human rights.”
