<p>I don’t like the fact that the new initiative is a requirement instead of an option.</p>
<p>My immediate thought was for transgender or other genderqueer students who do not feel comfortable being identified as “male” or “female” or do not feel their gender agrees with their physical sex. I don’t care if these students don’t want to “come out” in high school; that’s not the point. The point is that these kids would feel horrendously uncomfortable day after day in such a situation. I can see forced single-sex education having serious, long-term detrimental effects on transgender students. As is, the suicide rate for trans youth is said to exceed 50%; a middle school boy was murdered at school a couple of weeks ago by another middle schooler after he started to wear makeup and high heels to school (actually, in just the past 3 weeks, 3 young trans people were murdered). This is not just an issue of inconvenience or unpleasantness for affected children; this is about keeping students safe and comfortable while at school (LGBT students are 5 times more likely to report having skipped school in the past month due to safety concerns). You can’t just expect a hurting, confused, harassed child (75.4% of students frequently hear terms like “■■■■■■” while at school; 37.8% of students reported experiencing physical harassment because of sexual orientation) to keep their head down throughout elementary, middle, and high school until they can leave.</p>
<p>My statistics are al from GLSEN’s latest study released on GLBT safety in schools.</p>