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Transgender advocates march in support of Leelah Alcorn
Approximately 50 transgender advocates and allies
marched up Queen Street to Aotea Square earlier today, in
memory of Leelah Alcorn, a 17 year old trans woman who took
her life late last year.
The organisers asked the
public to reflect on the treatment of transgender people in
light of Alcorn’s death.
Jen Shields, an
Auckland-based advocate who spoke at the rally, says,
“Leelah Alcorn suffered massive abuse from her parents and
bullying in school, both influenced by the culture of
transmisogyny under which our society operates.”
She
argues that a lack of sex and gender education in school
creates an environment in which queer and trans students
receive no acknowledgement or attention.
“Currently
sex and gender education is optional in NZ, with many
principals believing they have no queer or trans students in
their schools.”
“We don’t even have a clear idea
of how safe or accepting schools are for queer and trans
students,” she says. “We found out in a recent review
that the Education Review Office doesn’t investigate this
factor or report on it.”
Ms Shields says, “Young
trans people suffer heightened rates of depression,
self-harm, and suicide”.
They also report lowered
rates of support from parents and friends, and higher rates
of fear of being harmed at school, according to a recent
study published by the University of
Auckland.
“Teaching gender in schools will go a long
way towards beginning to dismantle this culture of
transphobia and transmisogyny, and improving the living
conditions of trans youth in our country.”
A young
genderqueer activist also spoke about how the lack of gender
education in high school led to years of
confusion.
“If gender had been taught in high school
I would have come to my identity years earlier,” they
said.
In the note left on her tumblr blog, Leelah
wrote about how she lived through “10 years of
confusion” before learning about transgender identities at
age 14. She left the wish that gender be taught in schools,
“the earlier the better”.
Ms Shields says that
it’s time for New Zealand to proactively teach gender in
schools.
ENDS
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