The State of Schools for Trans Youth in 2025
This post originally appeared on A4TE’s blog, which can be viewed here.
In recent years, as the trans community has become increasingly visible, we’ve seen more and more trans youth begin to live as their authentic selves. Parents are also increasingly likely to be supportive of their trans children, which leads to young people feeling more free to be who they are.
Unfortunately, anti-trans extremists want to make it impossible for LGBTQI+ youth to be themselves in schools. These efforts include banning or fining teachers and schools for even talking about LGBTQI+ people or issues, pulling books off library shelves, and banning teachers from supporting LGBTQI+ students. In short, opponents want LGBTQI+ youth to be treated like they don’t exist. Those who disagree could face firings, fines, or even imprisonment.
The research is clear: affirming school environments are lifesaving for LGBTQI+ youth. Specifically, The Trevor Project found that attending a supportive school was the most meaningful factor lowering the risk of attempted suicide for trans youth.
Every student deserves the freedom to bring their true self to school, and teachers should never be denied the opportunity to support their students. Young people deserve to be referred to by the right name and pronouns, to read books that reflect their lives, to participate in school sports, to have access to school facilities, and to have age-appropriate conversations about LGBTQI+ issues with their teachers and peers. They should be able to come out when they feel safe to do so — and any teachers they confide in should never be forced to disclose their students’ gender identity against their better judgment. Students should never be forced to hide who they are — yet these bans, across dozens of states, continue to create a climate of fear and outright discrimination against young people who deserve so much better.
The following maps and resources detail the bans on school sports participation, facilities usage, censorship laws, forced outing, and other efforts to discriminate against transgender youth in states across the country. Our real-time Equality Maps offer a comprehensive understanding of how these laws and policies shape the lives of LGBTQI+ youth. We hope this information can serve as a helpful resource to our partners and advocates across the nation who are working to protect our community.
Bans on Transgender Youth Participation in Sports
This Equality Map displays laws that ban transgender youth from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, most frequently in K-12 schools and sometimes in college. These policies are blanket bans on transgender people’s participation in sports, and these bans are both unnecessary and harmful.
In addition, Trump has signed an executive order which attempts to exclude trans youth athletes at every level. This order is not yet law. A4TE urges all schools, universities, and sporting bodies not to comply, and calls upon national and state athletic associations to stand with the passionate transgender athletes devoted to their sport.
Bans on Transgender Youth Using School Facilities
This Equality Map illustrates the landscape of state laws prohibiting transgender people from using bathrooms and facilities — such as locker rooms, shower rooms, changing rooms, and other sex-segregated spaces — according to their gender identity in certain circumstances or places.
“Don’t Say Gay or Trans” School Censorship Laws
This Equality Map shows several policies related to LGBTQ inclusion in — or exclusion from — school curricula or standards. Inclusive curricular laws explicitly require states to include LGBTQ people and history in subjects like history, civics, or social studies. Harmful, exclusionary laws include older-style censorship laws that restrict how schools can discuss “homosexuality” in specific subjects; parental notification laws, and recent “Don’t Say LGBTQ” laws, which explicitly censor teachers and staff from discussing LGBTQ people or issues throughout all curricula.
Forced Outing of Transgender Youth in Schools
This Equality Map tracks laws that explicitly require school staff — and in some cases, any government or public employee — to out transgender youth to their families, often without regard for whether doing so might put the child at risk of harm.
Safe School Laws: Nondiscrimination
This Equality Map shows state school nondiscrimination laws that explicitly include sexual orientation and/or gender identity as protected characteristics, as well as states that explicitly interpret existing bans against sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Under Fire #2: Erasing LGBTQ People from Schools and Public Life
This second installment in MAP’s Under Fire series outlines anti-LGBTQ efforts that target LGBTQ youth and their freedom to be themselves in schools. Issues covered in this report include banning or fining teachers and schools for even talking about LGBTQ people or issues, pulling books off library shelves, and banning teachers from supporting LGBTQ students.
