My child recently told us that he is transgender. Any advice on how to navigate the college search and application process with this additional factor to consider? Thank you!
First and foremost, make sure that any college which your child wants to attend is trans-friendly, meaning that it will respect your child’s chosen gender, will use the pronouns that your child provides, that there are medical professionals who are experienced in trans-gender issues, and that the college has the resources to deal with issues like discrimination in the classroom, transphobia by fellow students, faculty, and staff, etc. It is also extremely important to see what the dorm situation is - do they have appropriate bathrooms and shower facilities, as well as appropriate facilities at the gyms. etc.
There are couple of good resources, one being the College Pride Index (https://www.campusprideindex.org/). It provides a pretty good breakdown of the resources available at each of the colleges on its list, but there are many colleges for which it still has not reviewed. However, the list of factors which they use to calculate the Pride Index are useful for you as well.
Good luck - It is wonderful that you are respecting and accepting your child’s choice. it is a difficult journey that your child has chosen, and they will need your unconditional love and support.
Take care, and keep safe.
First, congrats to your son! Definitely agree with above on checking out the Pride Index. Also, depending on the services you and your son think he’ll need, check out the health center and counseling services on campus. Some schools have LGBTQ+ specific counselors or different counseling for gender issues. Also a good idea to see if your son can get in contact with an LGBTQ+ student at the school to see how campus life is. Another good idea is to look up any LGBTQ+ related “controversies” at the school and how the school handled it.
Other things to note:
- Students who do significant off-campus activity in the local community may be affected by attitudes in the local community and government, which may be different from those on the campus and in the college administration. The state government and politics may also have an effect (e.g. "bathroom bills").
- Although people like to write LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+, etc., as if people under all of these descriptors share similar issues and concerns, note that the acceptance of transgender lags compared to acceptance of LGB in many places.
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Yes, this is indeed a major factor to remember.
Hoping to get more input on this thread from parents of trans kids or trans kids themselves. I have a trans son (freshman HS) and we are just starting to look at sites like campus pride etc. I will say that the comment about looking at the community, and not just school, is right on. Just because a school is trans friendly doesn’t mean the journey will be a good one. Personally I wouldn’t want my kid to go to school in a state with a bad rep on trans policies.
Also, for a previous poster, it’s good to note that coming out as trans is a choice but being trans is not a choice. Good to get that lingo straight 
Would it be better to start a new thread on this? I’m pretty new to CC.
Thanks!
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