Teachers are outing trans students thanks to state's new "Don't Say Gay" law - LGBTQ Nation

"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed the so-called "Bill of Parental Rights" in June, a draconian right-wing wishlist of MAGA priorities banning discussion of LGBTQ+ identity and race in classrooms, shutting down gay-straight student alliances (GSAs) on school campuses, and explicitly prohibiting school staff from supporting trans students, alongside other restrictive measures. The prohibitions around social transition mean kids known to their classmates and teachers by their preferred name and identity for years are now being deadnamed and forced to assume an identity they'd abandoned long ago."

"Ethan Brignac, a trans student at Wylie East High School northeast of Dallas, has been known by his chosen name since seventh grade. With the new legislation in effect, the high school senior lobbied teachers to continue using it. "In the first week of school, when I was kind of trying to convince my teachers to call me Ethan, I was like, 'Hey, look, it's still on my ID.'" "Then one of my teachers this year said, 'Okay, they're gonna fix that soon.'" Three weeks later, school administrators called him to the library and gave him a new ID. Ethan was now officially identified by his deadname."

"He says some teachers seem to make a point of working his legal name into every interaction, he told the Texas Tribune, outing him to peers and rekindling the dread he felt in his time before Ethan. "It was definitely a big change having my deadname kind of sprawled everywhere," he said, "It was like, wow, okay, that wasn't just a social media post I saw, this is real life.""

Texas enacted a sweeping "Bill of Parental Rights" that bans classroom discussion of LGBTQ+ identity and race, shuts down GSAs, and prohibits school staff from supporting transgender students. The law's restrictions on social transition require schools to use legal names and records, leading to widespread deadnaming and forcing some students to reassume identities they had left behind. Some schools have reissued IDs and staff have incorporated legal names into interactions, which can out students to peers and trigger trauma. A trans high school student reported renewed fear and visibility after administrators replaced his chosen name with his deadname. School officials cite compliance with the law for such actions.

Read at LGBTQ Nation