Editor’s note: This commentary is by Chelsea Henderson, who taught at Twinfield Union High School from 2014-2017 and now teaches in Chittenden County.
I am the teacher who helped organize the resources and training for LGBTQ+ competency at Twinfield Union School. Twinfield is a small Vermont school serving students from Plainfield and Marshfield. Coming from a more urban setting, I held a lot of assumptions about rural schools. As a queer educator, I was not sure I would feel safe in my new working environment. Time and time again I was surprised by my colleagues who made me feel as though I belonged and that my identity, just like theirs, was valued in our school. As educators, we set the tone for culture and community within our schools.
During my time at Twinfield, I was also the Gay Straight Alliance adviser. In my role, I was uniquely positioned to hear directly from youth about their lived experiences in school, what increased their stress and distraction from their education, and what helped alleviate that stress. The students there repeatedly asked for more training for adults in their lives to use correct pronouns as a key first step toward feeling seen and accepted by their school community.
After helping to coordinate this training, I was nervous about how this new learning would be received. Once again, I was surprised at the energy and engagement my colleagues brought to the room. I have never felt so proud to work with a group of educators as I did that day. A room full of pre-K-12 educators came together and did what all educators are asked to every day: They put students first.
Education is inherently a dynamic profession. Educators have to grapple with almost every hard story and unique circumstance that youth bring to a classroom — from food insecurity to family dynamics to, yes, even gender identity. We do not have the luxury of creating a hierarchy of what circumstance needs the most attention, our job is to give each youth the care and attention they need to be safe and significant in their school community.
Youth cannot attend to learning if they don’t feel as though they belong. More dialogue and professional development across Vermont schools creates better outcomes for all students. Too often LGBTQ+ youth struggle to survive based on systems and structures that fail to meet everyone’s needs. Education is crucial to all of our ability — and especially the most marginalized of youth — to live a life with safety, dignity and a hopeful future.
With the support of the principal and the superintendent, we got the training we needed, the one youth had asked for. Youth felt as though staff were listening to them more. Research shows that being a supportive adult makes a huge difference in the lives of youth. So much research about classroom education demonstrates that cultivating authentic relationships with young people is critical to their ability to engage in a classroom.
Using correct pronouns for youth allows each youth to be more fully present in their school environment. It asks that they show up as their authentic selves, including youth who are authentically cisgender — still identifying the way they were assigned at birth.
Gender is already embedded in the classroom, from the directives teachers give (“Line up, girls and boys”) to the facilities available. The question is not whether or not gender is present, it’s how we build inclusion, creativity, and accessibility into that experience so that all youth can be fully present to learn and grow.
Vermont’s own Youth Risk Behavior Survey data shows an egregious discrepancy between the experiences of LGBT youth and their cisgender, heterosexual peers, with only 39% of LGBT youth feeling valued at school, compared to 64% of their cisgender, heterosexual peers. When over 60% of LGBTQ+ youth have had serious thoughts about suicide in the past year, access to affirming educators, curriculum, and peers can in fact save lives.
Education is not about the adults, and that can sometimes be the hardest idea to face. Education is about responsively meeting the needs of our students so we can help them gain the experiences, knowledge, and tools they need to continually break down any barriers to their own freedom. All it takes is one adult. One person to show empathy, care, and compassion that can positively change the course for a student.
Along with the amazing opportunity to teach and learn from Vermont students, I have the privilege of carrying their stories with me. A few years ago, a student of mine changed their pronouns to reflect their true identity. In doing so, they felt unsafe to be themselves at home and school. The level of stress and burden felt by this student made it difficult for them to meet academic expectations. But through the support of their peers in the GSA (most of whom identified as straight and cisgender), the staff at our school, and the staff at Outright Vermont, this youth was able to find belonging and connection. And having that base of support meant they ultimately felt more able to be fully present with teachers and peers, specifically around correct pronoun usage, which ultimately supported their success in the classroom. Our staff modeled empathy, which is at the heart of the matter, and students followed suit.
One thing is clear to me: Tolerance was never the goal. The true aim is empathy, recognizing the humanity and dignity in each individual. Pronouns are such a small step in that direction; just a token of recognition that means the world to the youth who are most deeply impacted by an experience of gender that so many are able to take for granted. I’d hope we can all agree that we want all Vermont youth to feel important and valued at school. Using correct pronouns says to a youth: I hear you. It says: You are valued here.
