Almost half of transgender adults say they felt unsafe in school: poll

Almost half of transgender adults in a new Washington Post-KFF poll said that they felt unsafe in school as a child and teenager.

The survey, published Wednesday, reported that 45 percent of transgender respondents said they felt generally unsafe in school settings, and 37 percent said they felt unsafe at religious gatherings. 

Additionally, 30 percent of transgender respondents said they felt unsafe in their own homes, and 25 percent of those surveyed said they felt unsafe participating in youth sports organizations, while 25 percent said they felt unsafe participating in youth activities such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts or summer camp, according to the poll. 

Cisgender respondents in the poll were far more likely to share positive experiences from their childhood. 

Only 14 percent of adult cisgender respondents said they felt generally unsafe in their homes, and just 10 percent said they felt generally unsafe in a school setting, the poll said. 

The poll comes as GOP-led states have increasingly implemented measures to restrict the rights of LGBTQ students and residents, including prohibiting transgender athletes from participating in organized sports. 

A coalition of transgender and nonbinary legislators sent a letter to President Biden on Monday, voicing their concern about the administration’s proposed changes to Title IX and accusing him of not fulfilling his commitment to protecting transgender youth.

A proposal released on Thursday by the Education Department would prohibit the adoption of policies that “categorically” ban transgender athletes from school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. But the proposal adds that K-12 secondary schools would still have the leeway to limit transgender athletes’ participation in sports if they determine that including them will undermine competitive fairness or increase the risk of sports-related injuries. 

The Washington Post-KFF poll was conducted from Nov. 10 to Dec. 1 among a total of 1,338 respondents. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.