LibGuides: Gender & LGBTQ Resources: Supporting our Community

Supports for Students

Gender Spectrum Resources
Gender Spectrum offers resources to empower your relationships, work, and interactions with youth and children. From how-to guides, to respected research, to sample training materials, we provide you with the tools necessary to create gender inclusive environments in your homes, offices, and communities.
Gender Spectrum: Supporting and Caring for Our Gender-Expansive Youth Report
n collaboration with the Human Rights Campaign, in 2014 Gender Spectrum released a ground-breaking report, “Supporting and Caring for Our Gender-Expansive Youth” that assessed the challenges, aspirations, and expectations of Gender-expansive youth and teens in the US. This unique glimpse at gender diversity revealed that many young people are adopting expanded and more nuanced notions about gender, even in the face of the challenges that may ensue.
Supporting Trans and GNC Students
According to GLSEN research, compared to other students in the LGBTQ community, transgender and gender nonconforming students face more hostile school climates. To learn more, see GLSEN's full research report and webinar on trans student experiences, and our report on trans students and school facilities, co-authored with Movement Advancement Project.
Schools In Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools
Schools In Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools is a first-of-its-kind resource providing a blueprint for safe, supportive and inclusive school environments for transgender youth.

The groundbreaking guide, written for administrators, teachers, parents, and other adults who work with youth, covers topics ranging from basic concepts of gender and the importance of affirming gender identity, to best practices for restroom access and working with unsupportive parents. The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Gender Spectrum led the effort to produce the guide, joined by HRC Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the National Education Association (NEA).
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On page 51, access a sample Gender Support Plan. The purpose of this document is to create shared understandings about the ways in which the student's authentic gender will be accounted for and supported at school. School staff, caregivers, and the student should work together to complete this document. Ideally, each will spend time completing the various sections to the best of their ability and then come together to review sections and confirm shared agreements about using the plan.
Lambda Legal: Advocating for Teens and Young Adults
Whether it's in the hallways at school or in out-of-home care settings, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are at risk for harassment, bullying and discrimination and are too often neglected and unprotected by the institutions responsible for their care. Through our Youth in Out-Of-Home Care Project and through advocacy on behalf of youth in schools, Lambda Legal works to ensure that all LGBTQ young people can be safe, respected and free from discrimination and harassment.
My Kid is Gay
My Kid Is Gay is a first-of-its-kind digital space dedicated to connecting parents, caregivers, and educators with answers to their questions about the LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual) young people in their lives. We offer advice, personal stories, and expert opinions from a diverse panel of writers made up of parents, young people, and experts! Our writers tackle a large variety of issues such as gender identity, sexuality, sex education, and religion.
NBJC Safe and Inclusive Schools
Schools can be dangerous places for Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students, justifying the need for clear federal protections from harassment and bullying. Acts of bullying and harassment can no longer be seen as “kids being kids.”
Trevor Project
Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.
Youth & Family Support
We’re here to help you feel safer and healthier with a wide variety of services. At Whitman-Walker, we offer education, prevention, health and social programs tailored to young people ages 13 - 24. Our programs are designed to create safe space where all youth feel respected and welcome to be themselves.
Welcoming Schools (HRC)
Creating Safe and Welcoming Schools For All Children & Families. HRC Foundation's Welcoming Schools is the nation's premier professional development program providing training and resources to elementary school educators to embrace family diversity, create LGBTQ and gender inclusive schools, prevent bias-based bullying, and support transgender and non-binary students.
Welcoming Schools: Developing Gender Inclusive Schools Checklist
Creating schools that nurture academic achievement, provide physical and emotional safety and welcome all students are common goals for all educators. As educators, one can create gender-expansive environments that affirm all children by reducing gender role stereotyping and allowing them to express their interests and find confidence in their strengths.
Finding a Voice: A Guide to Gender Affirming Voice and Communication Training
This guide highlights the resources and information relevant to individuals that may be transitioning or of gender diverse populations. The guide includes a glossary of terms related to this that can be beneficial for those wishing to support someone, as well as provide further education into the topic. It dives deeper into what Gender Affirming Voice Training is and what one can expect, how to access training, and trusted external resources for further reading on this topic.

Coming Out

Coming Out
As a young person, learning about your own LGBTQ identity and coming out in a heteronormative and cisnormative world can be challenging. To help with the coming out process, we’ve compiled some key things for you to think about and consider as you begin to share your identities around sexuality and gender.
Resource Guide to Coming Out
Throughout the process of coming out and living ever more openly, you should always be in the driver’s seat about how, where, when and with whom you choose to be open. If you're wondering how to come out, this guide was designed to help you through that process in realistic and practical terms.

Gender Support Plan & Gender Transition Plan: Appendix D from Schools in Transition
This appendix from the larger Schools in Transition resource includes resources for schools to support transgender students. The Student Gender Support Plan is a broad tool can be used to systematically address various aspects of a transgender or genderexpansive student’s experiences at school. It is designed to ensure that the school, student and parents (when appropriate) are all on the same page and have shared expectations about how the specific, gender-based needs of the student will be met. The Student Gender Transition Plan focuses specifically on the process a student will use to undergo a gender transition at school. It seeks to identify the various steps that will be taken as the student explicitly declares a shift in the manner in which they wish others to understand and recognize their gender.

Supporting our Community

Trans Toolkit for Employers: Transitioning at Work
When people go through a gender transition while on-the-job, the whole work team transitions with them. Watch and listen to transgender employees and professionals bring the issues to life as they talk about making workplaces more transgender inclusive.

Student Advocacy

Youth Engagement Program
Building a network of young LGBTQ and ally activists nationwide who promote LGBTQ acceptance through the media.